By MARK LONG
AP Sports Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- Florida was relieved to win with such a
poor shooting performance.



Kenny Boynton scored 24 points, Bradley Beal had his fourth
double-double and the No. 12 Gators beat South Carolina 74-66
Thursday night for their sixth consecutive victory.



Florida (18-4, 6-1 Southeastern Conference) swept the Gamecocks
(9-12, 1-6) for the first time since 2008 and extended its
home-winning streak to 18 games.



The latest one was a grind.



"I'm kind of happy it happened because we won the game and it
was a woeful shooting night," Florida coach Billy Donovan said.
"We almost got caught."



The Gators led by 17 points midway through the first half, but
missed enough shots to allow South Carolina to slowly whittle it
down to five with 2:51 remaining. Brenton Williams had a chance
to make it a five-point game with 1:13 remaining, but he missed
the first of two free throws. Williams also had a costly
turnover on the previous possession. He was 2-of-9 shooting.



Florida made 11 of 12 free throws in the final 1:09 to close it
out.



"We need these kinds of wins," Boynton said. "In the past we let
some home wins slip away. I think we learned from those."



The Gators shot 37.3 percent from the floor, their second-lowest
total of the season. The biggest problem came from 3-point
range. Boynton was 4 of 8 from behind the arc, but his teammates
combined to go 3 for 20.



"It's not going to be pretty every night," Florida's Erving
Walker said. "South Carolina did a good job of scrambling and
switching defenses."



Bruce Ellington led South Carolina with 15 points. Damontre
Harris and Malik Cooke added 12 each.



The Gamecocks squandered several chances in the final few
minutes. Maybe the toughest to swallow was when Walker came up
with a loose ball - the Gators seemingly got all of them - and
found Beal slicing through the lane. Beal dunked it, got fouled
and completed the three-point play to put the Gators up 59-50.



Beal finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Walker had 14
points, seven assists and four rebounds.



"The challenge is when you're playing a team of Florida's
caliber and you've dug yourself in a hole," South Carolina coach
Darrin Horn said.



The Gators built their big lead with a huge rebounding advantage
and by making four of their first seven 3-point attempts. But
they went cold from long range in the second half.



South Carolina couldn't take advantage.



"We just couldn't get over that hump every time we cut the lead
down," Harris said. "We were always in that same spot, so it was
hard for us to get over that hump."



Florida dominated the opening 10 minutes.



The Gators made 3-pointers, got nearly every loose ball and took
advantage of a 14-1 rebounding margin to build a 27-10 lead.



Nothing went wrong for Florida early. The press took South
Carolina out of rhythm, and the Gators seemed to find wide-open
shooters all over the floor. And even when they did miss, they
got just about every rebound. Florida ended the first half with
14 offensive boards - more than Donovan's team had in its
previous three games combined.



"The main thing that really hurt us the most was rebounding,"
Harris said. "That is what killed us the most."



The Gamecocks eventually settled down and started slicing into
the lead.



Brian Richardson hit a 3-pointer and a jumper, and then Cooke
found his stroke. Cooke sank a mid-range shot, and then
converted a three-point play on the next possession. Cooke
flipped in a shot over his head, got fouled and knocked down the
free throw.



RJ Slawson continued South Carolina's late surge with a layup in
the final minute. The Gamecocks ended the half on a 9-1 run and
suddenly trailed 37-28 after looking like they would get blown
out.



Florida contributed to its problems late in the first half with
poor shot selection and missed free throws. Beal missed three
from the charity stripe in the final 5:48, and Walker missed
both of his in the final minute.



Cooke made it a six-point game, 37-31, with a three-point play
to open the second half.



The Gators responded, though.



Walker made consecutive floaters in the lane, and Beal tipped in
a miss. The game went back and forth the rest of the way. The
biggest different was Florida started making free throws and
finished 23 for 32 from the stripe.



"We let up," Boynton said. "In the first half we were hitting
shots and everybody was into it. In the second half, we stopped
hitting them and had defensive letdowns. ... But we found a way
to win, and that's all that matters."