COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)—South Carolina forced a school-record 30 turnovers as the Gamecocks beat Navy 73-40 Friday night.
Michael Boynton scored 15 points and Tarence Kinsey had 14 points as South Carolina (3-0) held an opponent to the fewest points since losing to Maryland 31-30 in overtime in 1971.
The Gamecock pressure—they also tied a school record with 20 steals and had nine blocked shots—proved too much for Navy (0-1), who only returned one starter and had six players dressed who have never played in a college game. The Midshipmen shot just 16-of-51 (31.4 percent).
Jeff Charles led Navy with 13 points and eight rebounds and Kwame Ofori added 10 points. It was the team’s fewest points since scoring 40 in a loss to Penn State 1979.
The Midshipmen were trailing 15-13 with just under 14 minutes to go in the first half when they unraveled.
In one four-minute stretch, Navy turned over the ball six times, including throwing it away after calling two-straight time-outs because the Midshipmen had trouble throwing the ball in. The Gamecocks would score 40 points off turnovers,
Over the rest of the half, South Carolina pressured Navy into 12 turnovers and 4-of-16 shooting. Charles got all the Midshipmen’s points as the Gamecocks finished the half on a 21-9 run.
Things didn’t get any better after the break as Navy turned the ball over in each of its first two possessions of the second half.
The Midshipmen got as close as 41-31 after scoring on three straight possessions with about 14 minutes left in the game. But then the turnovers returned—seven of them over the next 5 1/2 minutes—and the Gamecocks started making highlight reel plays like Kinsey’s monster jam on the break that brought a crowd already pumped by a pre-game pep rally for South Carolina’s football game with Clemson Saturday to its feet.
The Midshipmen would only hit two more field goals the rest of the way as the Gamecocks finished on a 32-9 run.
South Carolina’s 3-point shooting cooled off as the Gamecocks shot just 27.3 percent (6-of-22) from behind the arc. They had been shooting 42.2 percent (19-of-45) coming into Friday’s game.
Kinsey has been the Gamecocks’ breakout star this season. The sophomore has scored 49 points in three games this year after scoring just 43 points in all of his freshman season.
Carlos Powell had 11 points, Renaldo Balkman added 10 points and Josh Gonner also scored 10 points for South Carolina.