The Florida Gators won their sixth game in a row on Thursday night, beating the South Carolina Gamecocks 74-66 in Gainesville. The Gators have rolled off six straight SEC wins after dropping the opener in Knoxville. It was Florida's 18th straight win at the O'Connell Center.
Florida was led by freshman Brad Beal, who was all over the place and provided the highlight of the night in the sports world. Beal had his fourth double-double of the season, taking control of the game throughout and throwing down a monstrous "and-1" dunk to put the Gators' lead back to nine with under four minutes to play. He finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Kenny Boyton led all scorers with 24 points, as the senior guard was hot right out of the gate and hit three three-pointers in the first half. He finished with four treys but also drove the lane and got to the line ten times, hitting eight from the free-throw line.
Florida didn't shoot the ball particularly well, which let Carolina hang around and keep it under ten over the final ten minutes of the game. But the Gators still managed to keep them at arm's length and extend the winning streak. They will look to continue that streak on Saturday afternoon when the host Vanderbilt.
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