COLUMBIA, S.C. _ Hassani Gravett twirled twice before reaching the bench. South Carolina's team confidence was pumping through its senior guard who is playing the best basketball of his career.
The Gamecocks hosted a top-15 foe on Tuesday night, a timely test for a bunch coming off a head-turning win at Florida. Could the good vibes continue? It looked that way early when Gravett, in Frank Martin's dog house as a junior, made the 24th 3-pointer of his senior season and No. 14 Mississippi State was forced to call timeout. South Carolina had a lead _ and it kept it.
Carolina has its second win over a top 15 team in consecutive seasons thanks to a 45-minute effort that left everyone exhausted and for, those in garnet and black, overjoyed.
Gamecocks 87, Bulldogs 82. In overtime.
Maik Kotsar scored a career-high 25 points, including a monster baseline jumper with 43 seconds left, to help South Carolina (7-7 overall) move to 2-0 in the SEC for the second time in three years.
An A.J Lawson jumper gave South Carolina its first lead in overtime. Kotsar later continued the best game of his college career with a put-back to put Carolina ahead by four with 1:39 left. Lawson later had the exclamation point with a dunk.
Kotsar had a clutch bucket, free throw, block and rebound in the final minute-plus of regulation for the Gamecocks. The latter of those plays set up a long Gravett try at the buzzer that barely missed. It was 75-all after two halves, marking the second straight OT game between these two teams.
After a whistle-free first half, Chris Silva picked up his third foul at the 14:17 mark of the second half. He went to the bench. The Gamecocks were without their All-SEC forward and clinging to a two-point lead.
Didn't seem to matter all that much. Carolina responded by extending the advantage to seven less than two minutes later. An emphatic slam from Kotsar made it a 58-51 game.
Mississippi State, though, didn't go away. A 3 from Lamar Peters tied things at 63. A 3 from Aric Holman made it 66-all. Holman did it again at the 5:02 mark to cap a 9-2 Bulldog run to put them up four. Holman finished with 20 points.
The game featured 12 lead changes.
The teams teased a track meet from the opening tip. Mississippi State led 25-21 at the 10:26 mark as teams had combined to make 60 percent of their shots. Mississippi State's quick guards were a blur in the half-court, but the Gamecocks managed to keep pace, feeding off energy from their veteran big men.
Silva and Kotsar combined for 17 points, seven rebounds and two blocks in the opening period. Mississippi State countered with 18 points from its all-Weatherspoon backcourt duo.
The Bulldogs led 35-30 with 4:03 left before the Gamecocks closed the half on an 11-2 run. A Gravett 3 at the 1:28 mark gave Carolina its first lead in 13 minutes.
