NASHVILLE -- There's a reason why college basketball teams such as Georgia work so hard to earn double-byes in league tournaments such as the one the Southeastern Conference is staging this weekend in Bridgestone Arena.
That reason is to avoid playing a third game in three days -- as South Carolina was doing against the Bulldogs on Friday -- while just stretching your legs in your first game of the tourney.
"We didn't have the energy and fight we need to be good at the start of the game," South Carolina coach Frank Martin said after watching his team fall behind by 10 points in the first half of the eventual 74-62 loss to the Bulldogs, which had lost the first two meetings against the Gamecocks this season.
"Last night was a real taxing game for us (against Ole Miss). We just didn't have that energy early."
Georgia coach Mark Fox didn't necessarily see it that way. With his team now 21-10 heading into this afternoon's SEC tourney semifinal against Arkansas, Fox said, "We didn't feel like South Carolina was tired."
But after earning a seventh tie at 57-all following a three-point play from Sindarius Thornwell, the Gamecocks were never able to draw even with Georgia again, outscored 17-5 down the stretch.
"A much more complete game than our previous performances against South Carolina," Fox said. "We wanted to play fast. We had a lot of energy. We wanted to play fast, and I think we did that early."
Georgia looked to be in good shape when it went to halftime up 33-26 while hitting 50 percent from the floor and 70 percent from the foul line. Senior forward Marcus Thornton had 10 points and six rebounds at that point, and the Bulldogs had led by as many as 10 points in the opening period.
But befitting a team that had won four of its last five games, including Thursday night's wild win over Ole Miss, the Gamecocks fought back, mostly on the hot hand of Duane Notice. He led South Carolina with 20 points, including 16 in the final half.
But two Georgia 3-pointers as the shot clock was about to expire -- one by Nemanja Djurisic with 9:07 to go to put the Bulldogs up 50-47; the second by J.J. Frazier with 41 seconds left to ice the game at 70-62 -- all but guaranteed a return trip to the semifinals for Georgia.
"Those 3s, both at the shot-clock buzzer," Martin said, "created the separation to win the game."
Or at least keep a weary Gamecocks bunch from making a third straight charge when it mattered most.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.