NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Collin Murray-Boyles scored 24 points and No. 15 South Carolina beat Arkansas 80-66 on Thursday at the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
South Carolina (26-6), the No. 5 seed, took control of a back-and-forth game with a 16-0 run spanning halftime to put the Gamecocks into Friday's quarterfinals against No. 12 Auburn, the fourth seed.
The Gamecocks gave AP SEC coach of the year Lamont Paris his first conference tourney win, and they tied the 2017 Final Four team for most wins in program history. Paris' performance already has earned him a big pay raise and extension, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press.
B.J. Mack added 19 points for South Carolina, which won its first game at this tournament since beating Ole Miss in the opening round of 2018. Ta'Lon Cooper scored 11 points.
Khalif Battle led 12th-seeded Arkansas with 20 points. Makhi Mitchell added 15 and Jalen Graham had 11.
Arkansas (16-17) faced a quick turnaround after rallying from a 14-point halftime deficit Wednesday night to beat Vanderbilt 90-85. The Razorbacks jumped out to an 11-3 lead before South Carolina got going with Murray-Boyle leading the way.
The Gamecocks scored the final six points, capped by Johnson beating the buzzer driving for a layup out of a timeout with 4.3 seconds left, to take a 38-35 halftime lead.
South Carolina then opened the second half by scoring the first 10 points. The Gamecocks led by 21 in the final minutes.
BIG PICTURE
Arkansas: The Razorbacks leave with a .500 record in this tournament at 31-31. They fell to 2-3 in the second round, just missing the quarterfinals, where this program is 16-3 since joining the SEC.
South Carolina: The Gamecocks came in with the SEC's best scoring defense. This was their 25th game holding an opponent below 70 points and they improved to 21-0 when doing that, including 11-0 in league play. They improved to 11-0 when scoring at least 70 points against an SEC foe. ... They outscored Arkansas 52-38 in the paint.
UP NEXT
South Carolina gets a chance at some revenge Friday with a spot in the semifinals on the line. Auburn thumped the Gamecocks 101-61 on Feb. 14.