National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
South Carolina 78, St. Mary's 71
When: 11:00 PM ET, Sunday, December 22, 2013
Where: Stan Sheriff Center, Honolulu, Hawaii
Officials: # Jason Baker, # Larry Spaulding, # Tom Yoshida
Attendance: N/A

South Carolina 78, Saint Mary’s 71: Tyrone Johnson scored a season-high 16 points as the Gamecocks knocked off the previously unbeaten Gaels on the opening day of the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu.

Sindarius Thornwell added 13 points and Laimonas Chatkevicius scored a career-high 12 off the bench for South Carolina (3-5), which will play Boise State in Monday’s semifinals. Duane Notice added 11 points and Demetrius Henry finished with six points and eight rebounds for the Gamecocks, who shot 58.3 percent.

Brad Waldow scored 20 points to lead Saint Mary’s, which came in as one of 10 remaining unbeaten teams in Division I. Beau Levesque added 15 points and eight rebounds, Stephen Holt had 14 points and six assists and James Walker III finished with 13 points for the Gaels (9-1).

South Carolina led by eight with just under five minutes remaining but the Gaels cut the deficit to two on a jumper by Levesque with 2:57 on the clock. Brenton Williams sank a 3-point less than a minute later to extend the lead back to five.

Waldow made one of two at the line and Chatkevicius followed with a baseline jumper for a 75-69 advantage with 1:26 remaining. Thornwell sank two free throws with 24 seconds left to seal the win.

GAME NOTEBOOK: South Carolina shot 4-for-7 from beyond the arc against a Saint Mary’s team that had limited its opponents to 27.3 percent coming in. … The Gaels have lost consecutive non-conference games just once in the last seven seasons …. The Gamecocks shot 18-for-29 from the line, compared to 20-for-25 for Saint Mary’s.
Top Game Performances
 
South Carolina   St. Mary's
Tyrone Johnson 16 Scoring Brad Waldow 20
Tyrone Johnson 3 Assists Stephen Holt 6
Demetrius Henry 8 Rebounds Beau Levesque 8
Tyrone Johnson 3 Free Throws Made Brad Waldow 6
Demetrius Henry 2 Steals Jordan Giusti 1
Michael Carrera 1 Blocks Beau Levesque 1
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
South Carolina 78 58.3 4-7 18-29 12 27 3 6 11
St. Mary's 71 40.7 7-19 20-25 11 26 2 3 11