South Carolina's defense held Vanderbilt to just 32.8 percent shooting as the Gamecocks maintained their unblemished record with a 69-65 victory at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C., on Saturday.

Guard Sindarius Thornwell, who joined the 1,000-point club on Saturday, led the 22nd-ranked Gamecocks with 19 points and eight rebounds.

The junior particularly carried South Carolina (15-0) down the stretch of a close game, scoring eight in the final eight minutes. With teammates in foul trouble, he even ran the point at times.

The Commodores led most of the day but went ice cold in the second half, missing 17 of 18 field goal attempts at one point -- a run that extended until the final minute.

"Our team defense was tremendous," South Carolina coach Frank Martin said. "The last 10 minutes of the first half I thought we were starting to really defend well."

Trailing for the first 28 minutes, Gamecocks forward Laimonas Chatkevicius tied the game 49-49 on a putback with 11:31 left, and then freshman guard P.J. Dozier hit back-to-back field goals to put South Carolina up four.

Vanderbilt (8-7) struggled down the stretch without center Damian Jones (12 points, six rebounds), who played 16 minutes due to foul trouble and fouled out with 6:30 left.

"Hard-fought game," Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said. "I thought our guys really competed hard. We didn't play great, but I didn't think they played great, either. I think both teams kind of fought the other one into a slugfest, and they fought better than we did,"

Stallings shook up his lineup, starting just-healthy-again power forward Luke Kornet for the first time in over a month, moving Jeff Roberson to small forward and starting shooting guard Riley LaChance at point guard for Wade Baldwin.

That gave the Commodores the lift they wanted. Vanderbilt ran out to an 8-0 lead on its first three possessions, with Kornet knocking down a pair of 3-pointers. LaChance, meanwhile, led both teams in first-half scoring with 13, as Vandy took a 38-35 lead. South Carolina trailed at half for the first time all season.

But, as with most of the rest of his teammates, LaChance went cold down the stretch, missing all but one of his six second-half shots.

"You can't win like that. We've got to better on offense and defense in the second half," LaChance said. "I've got to make bigger shots. We've all got to make bigger shots. We've got to step up when it counts."

Thornwell said, "We just absorbed their hits. Once the crowd got into it and we started scoring, we were able to play our defense. In the past, (an eight-point deficit) would have turned into 16."

Carolina won the rebounding battle 44-36, though it got four fewer shots from the field thanks to a 13-11 turnover deficit.

The Gamecocks have five players averaging in double figures, but Mindaugas Kacinas (13) was the only other Carolina player to notch double-digits on Saturday. Gamecock forward Michael Carrera, who was limited to 21 minutes to due to foul trouble, tied Thornwell with a game-high eight rebounds.

NOTES: Vanderbilt extended its string of games with a made 3-pointer to 946 when F Luke Kornet hit one just 14 seconds into the contest . ... South Carolina's 15-game winning streak is the longest since the 1969-70 team won 17 straight. Only the 1933-34 team, which won its first 17, had a better start. ... The Gamecocks and SMU remain the only two unbeaten teams. ... Nine players were whistled for two fouls in the first half, including five Commodores. ... Carolina trailed at half for the first time all season. ... Vanderbilt G Matthew Fisher-Davis, the SEC's leading 3-point shooter, spent the second half on the bench with his left foot in a boot. ... The teams held a moment of silence for former Carolina coach Bill Foster, who died earlier in the week.