Aaron Cook had 22 points and seven assists to lead Georgia to a 76-60 victory over South Carolina State in a nonconference game on Tuesday in Athens, Ga.
Kario Oquendo had 17 points and four steals and Braelen Bridges added 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds for Georgia (2-1), which had 13 steals and converted South Carolina State’s 18 turnovers into 22 points.
Georgia shot 28 of 61 (45.9 percent) from the floor, including 7 of 22 (31.8 percent) from 3-point range, and led by as many as 19 points in the second half. Cook made 8 of his 11 field-goal attempts.
Omar Croskey scored a team-high 19 points on 6-for-11 shooting, including 5 of 9 from 3-point range, for South Carolina State, which shot 43.6 percent (24 of 55) from the field and 36.8 percent (7 of 19) from beyond the arc.
Georgia never trailed against South Carolina State (0-5), jumping out to a 28-13 lead in the first 9:13 en route to a 45-35 lead at halftime.
Georgia shot 18 of 34 (52.9 percent) in the first half, a mark that could have been higher considering it went just 4 of 13 from beyond the arc. Georgia forced nine turnovers and converted them into 11 points.
Oquendo scored 11 points on 5-of-10 shooting, while Bridges and Cook each shot 4 of 5 from the floor en route to scoring 11 and nine points in the first 20 minutes, respectively.
Croskey single-handedly kept South Carolina State in the game early. He scored 11 first-half points on 4-for-7 shooting from the floor that included making 3-for-5 on 3-point attempts.
South Carolina State was effective from long range in the first half, going 5 of 11 (45.5 percent) from beyond the arc, but were 9 of 21 (42.9) on its attempts from inside it.
South Carolina State has dropped its five games by an average of 15.6 points.
–Field Level Media
