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USC t( BY STEVE PARKER Sports Editor Carolina's quest for an NCAA post-season tournament berth ended Monday night with the Gamecock's 81-52 thrashing of Stet son at the Carolina Coliseum. Whether USC is invited to tourna ment action or not is no longer in the hands of the Gamecocks as they will play no more games before the tournament committee extends their post-season bids on the after noon of February 28. That very night USC will host Fordham. And so, with the USC team now unable to further their chances for a bid, the question is: Will the tour nament committee be impressed G ar Athi Athletes in Action, a barnstorm ing team of former collegiate bas ketball players, will meet Carolina Saturday night in a Coliseum exhibi tion game. The Gamecocks, now 18-5, are in the midst of an eight-game winning streak and are hoping to receive a bid to the NCAA play-offs. Bids are exp ..ted to be announced Feb. 28, the date of USC's next regular sea son game with Fordham. The squad that will meet the Gamecocks is the AIA "Eastern" team and a second squad of barn stormers is touring the West. Des pite playing all games on the road, Athletes in Action basketball teams have won 44 per cent of their games since first hitting the road in 1967. AIA also fields teams in wrestling, track, gymnastics and weightlift ing. This year's Eastern squad, 9-14, has claimed wins over Bowling Green, Ohio University and Toledo and has one-point losses to Marshall and East Carolina, the lat Easy To Open Gamecock Charge Account 100 (Limit) BRITTON S Going T( If so, contact us for Mercedez Benz or Volo DYER 2 3215 Two Victory give UrarM enough with Carolina to invite them? Carolina's creditionals are strong. The one-sided win over the Hatters raised the USC record to 18-5 on the season, including eight successive victories, and extended the Gamecock's victory string to 21 straight in the Coliseum. The five losses that the Gamecocks have suffered cost them severely in the eyes of the pollsters. Ranked high' in pre season polls, the USC squad dropped from sight after suffering two losses in their first five con tests. And despite the torrid show ing Carolina has presented of late, it was not until this week that they managed to climb back into the top necocks etes in A ter in overtime. AIA defeated Dav idson Wednesday night by one point, 94-93. Tipoff time Saturday is 8 P.M., Greg Berry ...coaches AIA East team. and there will be no live radio or television. All seats will be general admission and prices are $2 for adults and $1 for students. Jimmy Blacklock, a 6-1 guard who led the University of Texas to a Southwest Conference title and an NCAA bid, is the Athletes in Action leading scorer with a 15.7 average, and four other team members are scoring in double figures. C e Brookins, 6-4 who NEW SHI Forrest Green Corduro Heavy Denim Wide I MOELI AND BRIT4 Corner La4 > Europe? European delivery en automobiles. & BECK Notch Rd. '87-9560 s Gamecocks ent dn 20 teams in the nation. USC is currently ranked 19th by the UPI pollsters, but the AP poll sees fit to not place them in the pre mier group. Those rankings may seem fair for a squad with five losses, but the calibre of teams that Carolina has lost to, might call for a reexamina tion. All five teams which have bested the Gamecocks have at some point in the season been ranked in the top-twenty, four of them are currently still there. Although the Stetson game was not counted in the latest polls it doesn't seem as if the victory will move either the pollsters or the tournament committee much in either direction. face ction played at Temple, is averaging 13.9; Cavin Anderson, 6-4, of Valley City State, is averaging 13.6; 6-10 Dave Schneider of Wayne State 13.3; and 6-6 Bill Hull of Oral Roberts 11.4. Schneider is the leading rebounder with a 9.4 average. The Gamecocks will use the exhibition game to fill in an other wise nine-day layoff before the next official action, Feb. 28 against Fordham. The Athletes in Action game will not count in Carolina team and individual statistics for the season. Carolina is led by 6-3 All-America candidate and captain Kevin Joyce with a 20.2 scoring average. Freshman forward Alex English is averaging 14.4 points per game; seven foot senior center Danny Traylor 12.5; 6-4 junior forward Brian Winters 11.0; and 6-2 freshman guard Mike Dunleavy 10.4. Traylor and English are each averaging 10.4 rebounds per game. PMENTS y Bells by sells by 4EVY'S IHES BREW ly & Assembly Easy To Open Gamecock Charge Account, * 100 (Limit) BRITTON S 18-5 mark ve con One point which would seem to be in the Gamecocks favor was the 95-94 loss of Virginia Tech to lowly Richmond in double-overtime Mon day. VPI, 19th in the AP poll, was thought to be Carolina's chief rival for a tournament invitation. Carolina's win over Stetson was impressive. The Hatters trailed the entire contest after USC broke a 2-2 deadlock, were down by 40-26 at the halfway mark and eventually fell by a 29-point margin. Carolina's zone defense played a major factor in Stetson's lack of competition, as the Hatters could manage to convert only 31 per cent of their field goal attempts. Conversely, USC connected on 54 per cent, most on layups off of Athletes Dennis Cantrell, 6-10 centei a rebound in game in Wichita co-captain of the University 4 of the 12 former college play HELD OVER! 3RD BIG WEEK * I : - I * I I" DON,T MISS IT! Features 1:30-3:30-5:30-7:30-9:30 LA TE SHOW SA T. 11:30 A LL SE ATS 1.50 '. \ LOTS 4 OF ROCK ! cludes one of 20 assists the Gamecocks compiled for a new Coliseum record. Kevin Joyce broke the Coliseum's individual assist mark with 12 handouts to his teammates. Five Gamecocks scored 12 or more points, paced by Danny Traylor's 22 markers. The seven footer also led the squad in rebound ingwith 12, while blocking five Hat ter shots. All 12 of the Gamecocks saw action versus the Hatters. The victory was a quite impres sive way for the Carolina team to finish their effort for the post season berths, now all that remains is for the right people to take notice. in Action r for Athletes in Action, grabs earlier in the season. Cantrell, )f Miami 1971-72 team, is one ers on AIA. o...ng Cho~ ~h.o,. SHOWS PLL O 1-3-5 1417 MAIN STRIT 7-9 4 ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS including Best Picture Best Actress Best Actor SOUNDER Cicely Tyson Roke.hortho L A TE sAIN 1m5 SHOWS FRI. & SAT. ULTIMATE TRIP! V