BATON ROUGE, La. (Interstat) — South Carolina built a massive first-half lead and withstood a furious LSU comeback to secure a 78-68 victory in a Southeastern Conference men’s basketball game Tuesday night at Maravich Assembly Center.

The Gamecocks dominated the opening period, taking a 50-25 lead into halftime. The Tigers outscored South Carolina 43-28 after the break but could not close the gap fully. Elijah Strong led all scorers with 30 points for South Carolina. Meechie Johnson added 19 points and six assists.

Max Mackinnon scored 15 points for LSU. The Tigers’ three-game winning streak was snapped before an announced crowd of 6,303. South Carolina improved to 10-5 overall. LSU fell to 12-3.