Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Ca rOi Irish BY STEVE PARKER Sports Editor Many eyes were raised last week when Notre Dame, with a season record of 14-11, received an invita tion to the National Invitational Tournament, but the Irish took another step toward convincing anyone doubting their worthiness by upsetting Carolina 73-69 Satur day afternoon at Notre Dame. The USC defeat marked the third time this season that the youthful Irish have upset a powerful, nationally-ranked team, as Mar quette and St. John's were earlier victims. Such victories surely make the Irish worthy of post-season play. Their 15-11 team is extremely young, starting four sophomores and a lone junior and has a way of controlling the tempo of a contest anyway they can; be it through John Shumate, Gary Brokaw, Coach Dig ger Phelps or the officials, the Irish control a game until they are ready to make their move. The big play in their upset of Carolina was when guard Brokaw snatched the ball away from Brian Winters, just going into his leap for a jumpshot which could have tied the game at 71-71. But as Winters spun around to take the long shot he left the ball unprotected and Brokaw seized the opoportunity for any easy layup which settled the affair. Brokaw's steal spoiled a com eback attempt by the Gamecocks which is usually reserved for home games, not road affairs such as at Notre Dame. With 10 minutes remaining in the game, Carolina was trailing by 10 points, 55-45, but the Gamecocks soon cut that mar gin down to two points by outscor ing Notre Dame 12-4 in a span of five minutes. Notre Dame and Carolina exchanged baskets for the next few minutes and when the Irish rattled off five straight points following a short jumpshot by Alexander Eng lish it appeared as if Phelp's youth corps had another game safely tucked away. But freshman guard Mike Dun leavy connected for a three-point play to pull USC within four points. Kevin Joyce was then called for blocking on the Irish's Dwight Clay, a disputable call which not only led to another Notre Dame point as Clay converted the front side of a one and-one situation, but also cost the Gamecocks the services of Joyce as it was his fifth foul. And so, Carolina lost Joyce with 51 seconds left and was forced to attempt its last drive for the com eback without its leading scorer, who had 26 points on the day. The disputable call brought to mind numerous other referee's dec isions which kept the Gamecocks from making earlier drives for their lost lead. Easy To Open Gamecock Charge Account *100 (Limit) BRITTONS 17 Is rT upset L Even without Joyce, Carolina's chances appeared strong when his replacement Casey Manning stole an Irish pass under the Carolina basket and flipped it to English who converted on the field goal to make the score 71-69. English was fouled on the play but his ensuing free throw attempt failed. Gary Brokaw ...steal proves difference. Hilliard seasona Alan Hilliard opened Caroli cessful note as his one-man he paced the Gamecocks to a 6-0 at Charleston. Hilliard was assigned the 0 ace pitcher Earl Bass and ser could be saved for two tough Carolina State, but the pitch academic as heavy rains was] ing State this weekend at Sts In all probability the two p berths frequently in the nexi open a streak of eight consec this afternoon with a double Liberty State at 3:00. West Virginia moves in ton noon for two more 3:00 conte and Central Michigan provid( ing days at home. Hilliard pitched a complete up just six hits and three w4 The senior lefthander, who is out record with 17 in one gam again displaying a strikeout the Baptist batters. Hilliard also provided som( run homerun. Early Baptist scoring threc going shakey as he gave up first five innings, but only on The big offensive men for were shortstop Eddie Ford wi to the plate for two RBI, anc Hilliard, had two hits, includi (See BASEBA S UMMEi) National Co. is now ii dents. Stmndentgs select $120 per week. Ifntervier Hotel (Friars Rloombi) Ti I. iother iC tim USC was presented with the opportunity to tie the contest when Clay lost the ball out of bounds while bringing it upcourt against the Gamecock press, but Brokaw's play spoiled all hopes that were aroured by Clay's miscue. USC had led throughout the first half, often by five points, but Notre Dame repeatedly pulled back to within three and just before hal ftime they came within one-point behind the torrid shooting of Shumate, who hit eight straight points for the Irish. Carolina opened a five-point lead again early in the second period but Shumate hit two quick baskets and (See IRISH, Page 13) opens Nith win na's baseball season on a suc :roics last Thursday afternoon decision over Baptist College )ening day assignment so that tior left-hander George Beam weekend clashes with North ing rotation strategy was all zed away any chances of play te. itching aces will see starting : few days as the Gamecocks :utive home contests starting header against visiting West iorrow and Wednesday after sts. Pembroke State, Erskine the challenges in the follow game against Baptist, giving tlks during the entire game. a co-holder of the USC strike e, started out his season once mastery as he whiffed 13 of offensive power with a two its did make Hilliard's early five hits, two triples, in the e hit thereafter. Carolina, besides Hilliards, io had three hits in four trips I John Gambrell, who, as did ng a double. ALLL, Page 14) R WORK mterv iew* ing college stmu Aork inl htome loc'ality, b will be at 1he Slheraton ieday'. Marchi 6 nt I:ooe Jim Hersh Where have all the fans gone? Carolina Coliseum crowds have been relatively quiet and small this year, which is rather strange considering that the Gamecocks are an outstanding young, exciting team. There have only been a couple sellouts at the Coliseum this year. It's really sad when a school with a student body of around 18,000 and a city with a population close to 100,000 can't fill a 12,000-seat arena. But they haven't this year. Maybe Carolina fans have been spoiled by John Roche, Tom Owens and Tom Riker and they can't get psyched over a team that has just managed to work itself into the top twenty. But this year's Gamecocks are more exciting than last year. Last year they were expected to be in the top ten. This year they are the underdogs, and it's much more fun rooting for teams that aren't supposed to win. And yet the Coliseum has been an emptier, quieter place this year than it has in the past couple. It just doesn't seem right. And another thing that won't be right is if Kevin Joyce doesn't get a four or five-minute standing ovation when his name is announced before the Duquesne game on Wed nesday. He's been the team leader this year, and last year for that matter, and he deserves the tribute of getting the standing 0 at his last home game. The other seniors, Casey Manning and Danny Traylor, should rate a big ovation, too. They, along with Joyce, will be going to their third consecutive NCAA play-off, certainly a school record. So maybe Carolina fans can redeem themselves for their apathy by filling the Coliseum to give the three seniors a long and noisy good-bye. Midwest at Hofheinz-Cougars in heaven If you are like the majority of people on this campus, you probably think that the NCAA did Carolina a favor by moving them to the Midwest Regional; getting them away from Providence, St. John's and the ACC champion. But there really isn't that much difference in the quality of teams in the Midwest and East. And, if Carolina is to make it to St. Louis they'll do it because they played great basketball, not because they sneaked in through the back door. kiranted, Texas Tech won't present the Gamecocks with much of a problem, but after that game Carolina won't get any free rides. Memphis State, Kansas State, Southewestern Louisiana and Houston, possible opponents for the Gamecocks in the Midwest, are all in the top 12 teams of the latest UPI poll. " So once they get past Texas Tech, Carolina had better be ready for two tough games. The Southwestern Louisiana-Houston preliminary game, the same day as the USC-Texas Tech game, could hold the key to the Midwest. If the Cougars win that game they'll have a big advantage over the other three teams in the Regional's final round. You see, the NCAA, which has a way of making inane decisions, has scheduled the Midwest finals to be played in Hofheinz Pavilion, Houston's home court. The Cougars have won 57 of their last 58 games in Hofheinz and the home-court advantage would make them semi-unbeatable in the Regionals. About the only thing more unbeatable than Houston in Hofheinz is UCLA in Pauley Pavilion, which is where UCLA will win the Far West Reg ionals. So the NCAA, who claims to schedule their tournament games played on neutral courts so everyone has an equal chance to win, could have Houston and UCLA playing for (See HERSH, Page 15) PART-TIME WORK BRICK HANDLERS Afternoons until 8 p.m. Call 786-1260 RICHTEX CORP. HIGHWAY 215 N. at 1-200