ATHENS, Ga. – Trey Thompkins scored 20 points, Travis Leslie added 15 and Georgia cruised to a win it had to have, blowing out South Carolina 64-48 Saturday night.
Coming off a loss at Florida, the Bulldogs (19-9, 8-6 Southeastern Conference) knew another defeat against last-place South Carolina (14-13, 5-9) would be a huge blow to their on-the-bubble NCAA chances.
No problem. Georgia raced to a double-digit lead before the game was 10 minutes old, making it 17-6 on Jeremy Price's dunk. The Bulldogs were up 39-22 at the half in a replay of their first meeting with South Carolina, when they led 28-9 going to the break.
In that one, Georgia needed Thompkins' block in the final seconds to preserve a 60-56 win. A sluggish start to the second half had the home crowd grumbling, but the Bulldogs soon got rolling again and led by as many as 24.
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