GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Junior guard Denzel Aberdeen and sophomore forward Thomas Haugh both delivered career-high scoring performances, powering the third-ranked Florida Gators to an 88-67 win over South Carolina in Saturday’s SEC matchup at a packed Exactech Arena/O’Connell Center.

Aberdeen, starting for the fourth straight game, tallied 22 points by connecting on eight of 12 field goals and sinking a personal-best five 3-pointers on seven attempts across 30 minutes. Haugh, stepping into the lineup for the first time as a starter with Alex Condon sidelined due to an ankle injury sustained in Tuesday’s victory over Mississippi State, contributed 20 points along with six rebounds, three assists, and two steals.

Senior point guard Walter Clayton Jr. added 10 points, four rebounds, and eight assists, while sophomore center Rueben Chinyelu recorded his second consecutive double-digit scoring effort with 10 points and six boards.

The victory marked Florida’s fourth in a row.

Despite a sluggish first half — leading by only four at the break against a South Carolina squad still searching for its first SEC win — the Gators erupted after halftime, shooting 70.4 percent and knocking down eight 3-pointers. They managed this without Condon and reserve forward Sam Alexis (ankle), but welcomed back fifth-year guard Alijah Martin, who had missed two games with a hip pointer, and 7-foot-1 center Micah Handlogten, returning for the first time since fracturing his leg last March 17 in the SEC Tournament. Martin, the team’s second-leading scorer, finished with 11 points and three assists in 24 minutes. Handlogten chipped in two points, three rebounds, a career-best five assists, two steals, and two blocks in 20 minutes.

Both teams came out firing, with South Carolina hitting 75 percent of its shots through the opening 12 minutes and Florida connecting at a 65 percent clip. USC briefly led 31-30 with under five minutes left in the half, but UF closed strong, scoring seven of the final nine points to take a 37-33 advantage into the locker room.

The second half quickly turned into a runaway. Florida opened with back-to-back 3-pointers to push the margin into double figures and extended the lead to 15 by the first media timeout. After USC trimmed the gap to nine with a six-point burst, the Gators responded with five straight 3s — three from Aberdeen and one each from Martin and Haugh. The lead ballooned to 22 and eventually reached 25, fueled by a blistering 19-of-27 shooting performance in the half, including eight of 14 (57 percent) from beyond the arc.

UF forward Thomas Haugh (10) launches a 3-pointer Saturday night.