Sindarius Thornwell had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the ninth double-double of the senior guard's career, and No. 23 South Carolina used a stingy defensive effort to fight off struggling Missouri 63-53 on Saturday night in a Southeastern Conference matchup at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Mo.

South Carolina freshman guard Rakym Felder scored 13 points off the bench, including three 3-pointers.

Senior forward Russell Woods scored a career-high 17 points to lead Missouri (5-15, 0-8).

After a tight, cumbersome first half, the Gamecocks started to distance themselves midway through the second half. Duane Notice and PJ Dozier knocked down consecutive 3-pointers, putting South Carolina up 46-33 with 10:12 to play.

The Gamecocks (17-4, 7-1 SEC) answered every Missouri challenge down the stretch and handed the Tigers their 12th straight loss.

South Carolina coach Frank Martin acknowledged his team's uneven offensive performance -- the Gamecocks shot just 35.1 percent from the floor -- but was pleased with the win, the program's first at Mizzou Arena in four trips.

"I've come in here with some good teams, and I've come in her with some bad teams," Martin told reporters, harkening back to his years coaching at Kansas State while Missouri was still in the Big 12. "Winning here has always been tough."

The difference was from beyond the arc. South Carolina hit nine 3-pointers. Missouri went 1 of 17 on 3-pointers against the Gamecocks' defense, which leads the nation in 3-point field-goal percentage defense.

Guard Duane Notice had nine points and Dozier finished with seven. The Gamecocks' reserves outscored Missouri's bench 22-8.

Missouri was the 10th opponent South Carolina has held to less than 60 points.

Woods hit from the inside to cut the South Carolina lead to 60-53 with 53 seconds to play. The Gamecocks sealed the conference road win at the foul line in a matchup of two SEC programs headed in opposite directions. Thornwell went seven for seven from the foul line.

South Carolina has rebounded from a loss at Kentucky with back-to-back conference wins and heads into February tied with the Wildcats atop the conference standings. Missouri, on the other hand, hasn't won since Dec. 6 and coach Kim Anderson's job security is in question.

"We played hard," Anderson said after Saturday's loss. "We just didn't play well enough to win."

The first half was not pretty, but it was competitive. Neither team shot better than 38 percent from the floor, and each committed 10 turnovers.

Missouri jumped out to a 7-0 lead before Thornwell broke the scoring drought for South Carolina with a 3-pointer from the corner with 15 minutes to go.

"We've got to start better offensively," Martin said. "But offensively we're not starting games real good. I've got to figure out a way to fix that. Now, we spend a lot of time on our defense, and there's a reason for that. Because to win on the road, you're not going to outscore home teams. You need to go out there and figure out a way to survive. And to survive you have to scrap and claw."

Felder made an instant impact in the first half and hit a 3-pointer with 53 seconds left before intermission that helped send the Gamecocks into the locker room with a 26-22 lead.

Felder led all scorers in the first half with 12 points. Woods and K.J. Walton each had nine points in the opening half, keeping Missouri close.

"We played extremely hard, not going to say extremely well," Anderson said. "I don't think it was a very pretty half for either team. I was pretty pleased where we were at halftime."

NOTES: South Carolina senior G Sindarius Thornwell started his 116th career game, tying Gamecocks greats Melvin Watson and B.J. McKie for the most starts in school history. ... Missouri outscored South Carolina 36-12 in the paint. ... The Missouri roster is made up entirely of first- or second-year players. ... Saturday's win was South Carolina's first at Mizzou Arena. ... South Carolina is at LSU on Wednesday. Missouri travels to No. 25 Florida on Thursday.