South Carolina 63, Missouri 54: Sindarius Thornwell had 18 points and six assists to lead the Gamecocks to a win in the first round of the SEC tournament in Nashville, Tenn.

Michael Carrera scored 12 points and grabbed six rebounds for the No. 11 seed Gamecocks (16-15), who will meet sixth-seeded Mississippi in the second round Thursday. Duane Notice chipped in nine points and five assists as South Carolina nearly led wire-to-wire.

Montaque Gill-Caesar led No. 14 seed Missouri (9-23) with 10 points while Johnathan Williams III had nine and 11 rebounds to help the Tigers claim a 35-26 advantage on the boards. Missouri shot 36 percent and had 16 turnovers while wrapping up its first losing season since 2005-06.

Thornwell made a 3-pointer and Laimonas Chatkevicius hit a jumper to give South Carolina a 30-17 lead late in the first half but Missouri scored the final seven points before halftime and pulled within 32-29 on Namon Wright's three-point play just over a minute into the second half. Thornwell hit another triple, added two free throws and assisted on a dunk by Mindaugas Kacinas to bump the Gamecocks' lead to 44-35 with just over 12 minutes to go.

The Tigers responded with a 12-5 burst and were within three points with six minutes to go, but Tyrone Johnson's basket and Thornwell's fourth 3-pointer pushed the gap out to 59-51 with under five minutes left. Missouri, which had a span of nearly nine minutes without a field goal down the stretch, trailed by as many as 12 just before the final horn.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Tigers senior G Keith Shamburger did not start due to disciplinary reasons. ... Johnson led the Gamecocks with seven rebounds and two steals. ... South Carolina lost 65-49 at Mississippi in the only meeting between the teams this season.