Thursday, February 2, 2012

No. 12 Florida tops Gamecocks for 6th straight win

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- Kenny Boynton scored 24 points, Bradley Beal had his fourth double-double and No. 12 Florida beat South Carolina 74-66 Thursday night for its sixth consecutive victory.
The Gators (18-4, 6-1 Southeastern Conference) swept the Gamecocks (9-12, 1-6) for the first time since 2008 and extended their home winning streak to 18 games.

Florida had to grind out the latest one.

The Gators led by 17 points midway through the first half, but South Carolina slowly whittled it down to five with 2:51 remaining. Brenton Williams had a chance to make it a five-point game again with 1:13 remaining, but he missed the first of two free throws. Williams also had a costly turnover on the previous possession. He was 2-of-9 shooting.

Florida made 11 of 12 free throws in the final 1:09 to close it out.

Bruce Ellington led South Carolina with 15 points.