South Carolina bounced back from its first loss of the season to beat Western Kentucky 75-64 in the third place game of the Asheville Championship.

Poor shooting doomed South Carolina against Princeton and early on it looked like the same thing would happen Sunday. James Reese made an early three, but then South Carolina missed seven straight threes.

Instead of stubbornly continuing to shoot quick threes the way it did Friday, South Carolina stayed patient. Jermaine Couisnard hit an open three to break the streak and put the Gamecocks ahead, and they never trailed again. Brandon Martin scored five points during an 8-0 run late in the first half and the Gamecocks led 31-24 at halftime.

Turnovers let Western Kentucky back in the game. South Carolina committed six turnovers in the first four minutes of the second half as Western Kentucky went on an 11-4 run to tie the game. At that point South Carolina had more turnovers (18) than baskets (13).

Reese hit a three to retake the lead, and then Devin Carter made four consecutive free throws. Erik Stevenson, who had missed 15 consecutive three-point attempts in Asheville, finally made one, and South Carolina answered Western Kentucky’s run with a 12-4 run to retake control.

The Gamecocks built a 15-point lead, but another rash of turnovers spurred an 8-0 Hilltoppers run to make the Gamecocks sweat. After a timeout, Couisnard hit another three to secure the win.

Couisnard finished with 16 points and seven rebounds, but he had nine of South Carolina’s 24 turnovers. Carter tied for the team lead with 16 points, and 14 came in the second half. He also added eight rebounds and four assists, and made all eight of his free throw attempts. Reese added 14 points.

South Carolina shot better than 45% from the floor and was plus-18 rebounding, plus-six in points in the paint, plus-six in second chance points, and plus-21 in bench points. But the 24 turnovers nearly canceled everything else out. Western Kentucky just didn’t do enough to capitalize. The Hilltoppers only had 23 points off the turnovers (same as the Gamecocks had off of 18 turnovers) and shot just 38%.

Notes:

Wildens Leveque followed up his first career double-double with eight points (on 4-4 shooting) and 11 rebounds. … Josh Anderson led Western Kentucky with 16 points. … Stevenson was called for a Flagrant 1 foul against Anderson in the second half. … South Carolina finished the game 9-27 from three (33.3%). … South Carolina’s next game is Thursday against UAB.

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