Senior guard Sindarius Thornwell scored 22 points, leading South Carolina to a 70-60 Southeastern Conference road win over Tennessee on Wednesday at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn.

The Gamecocks (13-3, 3-0 SEC) jumped on turnover-prone Tennessee early but didn't put away the Volunteers away until late in the second half.

Thornwell knocked down a 3-pointer that gave South Carolina a 53-43 lead with just over seven minutes to play in the second half.

Tennessee cut the deficit to eight with two minutes left on a 3-pointer by freshman guard Lamonte Turner. It was the first 3-pointer of the game for the Vols, who missed their first 10 3-point attempts.

However, the Volunteers would get no closer, and they dropped their third consecutive game.

Freshman guard Grant Williams scored 15 points to lead Tennessee (8-8, 1-3 SEC).

Sophomore guard Hassani Gravett added 12 points off the bench for South Carolina, and senior guard Duane Notice added 11 points.

South Carolina led 24-11 with five minutes left in the first half. At that point, the Vols had as many turnovers as they did points. But the Gamecocks did not take full advantage of Tennessee's struggles and went into halftime with only a 27-21 lead. The Vols closed the first half with nine straight points.

Tennessee sophomore guard Shembari Phillips sustained a lower leg injury late in the first half and had to be helped off the floor and back to the locker room. The Vols were already without junior forward Detrick Mostella, who was dismissed from the team Tuesday after he cited on suspicion of drug paraphernalia possession. Mostella was the Vols' second-leading scorer.

The teams committed 22 turnovers apiece.

The Gamecocks host Ole Miss on Saturday, while Tennessee heads to Vanderbilt on Saturday.