COLUMBIA, S.C. — Aleksas Bieliauskas set a career high with 23 points Saturday afternoon, and South Carolina pulled away in the second half to beat Gardner-Webb 79-62 at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina. The Gamecocks are 4-0.
Bieliauskas supplied all of South Carolina’s first 12 points and had 14 by the break. The Gamecocks then went the last five minutes of the half without a field goal, and the Runnin’ Bulldogs closed on a 10-2 spurt to trail just 35-33.
Bieliauskas scored the first four points after halftime, and South Carolina never trailed again. Juan Fernández scored eight during a 14-2 burst that made it 67-49, and Gardner-Webb stayed at least 10 points behind over the final 9:55. The visitors hit only 8 of 28 shots after the break and went without a basket from the field over the last three minutes.
Bieliauskas, a native of Lithuania, made 8 of 11 shots from the floor and 5 of 6 at the line. Marcus Johnson added 16 points, Fernández had 15 and Kory Mincy scored 11. As a team, South Carolina shot 58.3%, the third-best mark under coach Lamont Paris, with 44 points in the paint. Gardner-Webb made 3 of 16 tries from 3-point range.
Gardner-Webb (1-3) got 12 points from reserve Jackson Skipper. South Carolina finishes its five-game homestand against Elon at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, on the SEC Network.
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