Lofton’s clutch 3 lifts UT into SEC semifinals

ATLANTA — When asked how his team could beat Tennessee, South Carolina’s Dave Odom responded without hesitation.

“Play perfectly,” he said.

And his Gamecocks almost did, but Tyler Smith and Chris Lofton overcame slow starts to ignite top-seeded Tennessee to an 89-87 win Friday afternoon at the Georgia Dome.

All of Smith’s 13 points came in the final 11 minutes. He scored 11 of UT’s final 14 points, including an inside bucket to give the Vols an 86-85 lead with 38.7 seconds left. South Carolina’s Dominique Archie responded quickly, stuffing home a putback slam to put the Gamecocks back in front with 20.8 seconds left.

Lofton landed the final blow, drilling a deep 3-pointer from the top of the key to cap the scoring with 11.4 seconds left. Lofton was 1-for-9 from the perimeter until that final shot, finishing with just 10 points.

Tennessee (29-3) will play the winner of this afternoon’s Vanderbilt-Arkansas game in a 1 p.m. Saturday semifinal. South Carolina (14-18) could advance to the inaugural College Basketball Invitational, but this afternoon might have been the last game for a retiring Odom.

Sophomore forward Wayne Chism led UT with a career-high 23 points, and senior guard JaJuan Smith added 19. Chism also had seven rebounds, while Tyler Smith added seven rebounds and five assists.

Sophomore point guard Devan Downey led South Carolina with 26 points, while junior guard Zam Fredrick added 24. Freshman forward Mike Holmes had 15 points and game-high 11 rebounds for the Gamecocks.

UT jumped on South Carolina in the opening minutes, running out to a 12-2 lead on a Duke Crews’ bucket less than five minutes into the game.

Chism scored 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the first half, and one of those misses actually went through the net — but it was a half-court heave that bounced off the shot clock and didn’t count.

Other than Chism, though, the Vols were 10-for-25 from the field in first half. Including Chism’s first-half 3-pointer, UT was a frosty 2-for-13 from behind the arc at the break.

Fredrick capped South Carolina’s 11-2 spurt with two free throws that gave the Gamecocks a 40-39 lead with 0:54 left in the first half, but a Chism putback pushed UT back in front.

Lofton and Tyler Smith both struggled early. Lofton had four points but missed all four 3-point attempts in the first half, while Tyler Smith was held scoreless.

Fredrick had 18 first-half points on 4-of-7 shooting.

For more on this game and complete coverage from the SEC tournament read Saturday’s Times Free Press Sports section.