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1 Sports I USC durnjps VJ\ FroH I Cam/irtA jiuMrd^Z^^ EraHrL night in (JSC's 103-88 win o The reti By Mike Chil Sports Colurr About this time last year, the b Foster consisted of a few fond meaningless pick-up games agaii Foster, who as a 14-year old fr High School in Greenville was tention of major college basketba headed nowhere. A young man w "can't miss" college prospect wa oi one-on-one wun nimsen ana ne Sports Com I It was a time in Jimmy's life Last spring he received that br< basketball coach Bill Foster ofl play at Carolina. Coach Foste gamble in signing the 6-8 prosj 8 played organized basketball in t\ ? of personal problems and acaden I DESPITE THE SKEFTICTS Foster decided to give him a cl day, Jimmy has been repaying h act. Jimmy has shown his gratit fully to Bill Foster's cause. The results have been impress the 1980-81 season, Jimmy is a team-leading 11 rebounds a gair have been against the toughest c< 11 rebounds against Marquett rebounds versus Texas. Equally Jimmy maintained a solid B aver classes at USC. Gamecock assistant basketbal I who has taken soecial interest in j "Jimmy has done everything we' ; We run a pretty tight $hip an sacrifices and Jimmy has made t FANS, COACHES and playei relentless intensity which Jimmy | He has become a true kamikazie loose balls, drawing the charging and crashing the boards with tc bodily welfare. After a recent Carolina home ? v ,;T ' MnSHBHHHiBBMHDHi ildcats, 103-88 rPLtv ^I p^JpW?? :V ;:- .. :.,;.,"Q- ' : ik scores two of his career ver Davidson. (Photo by Ba irnofJi bbaro I ml** ' V asketball career of Jimmy i memories and a series of 1 nst inferior competition, eshman at Wade Hampton ( already drawing the at- I ill coaches, was now 19 and ho was once regarded as a is playing an endless game f was getting beat. ? mentary wiu:ii uc iiccucu ct ureuk. , iak when USC's new head ' fered Jimmy a chance to | r knew he was taking a x?ct, since Jimmy hadn't vo years and had a history lie deficiencies. M about Jimmy, coach lance and ever since that lis coach for that generous ude by dedicating himself ive. Seventeen games into irn**nrtir>r< 1 A *"? V^iC*?UAg 11 pUlllU) (1I1U (I \e. His best performances smpetition ? 20 points and e and 24 points and 12 important to his coaches, age in his first semester of 1 coach Steve Steinwedel, Jimmy's comeback, said, vejasked of jhim more?j id we believe in making,, hose sacrifices." I *s have marveled at the has played with this year, performer ? diving after foul every chance he gets, < ital disregard for his own ;ame, a coach from one of zmtini ^Blr^ wj ^ MBK: \fi?Wp^B?v>' w ' Kb - a^Hl i> SS^pj high 41 points Saturday rry Newman) mmyFi JSC's future opponents said of :an't behove this guy Foster, clayed with such intensity and ets up...it's remarkable." In essence, the Jimmy Foste >ne of the nation's top high s ound a home and with that hon JIMMY'S SUCCESS must n :raveled a lorg road to get wh< appeared as though that road w As a ninth grader at Wade starting berth and averaged scoring and rebounding while p ind four years older than he season in a fury, averaging n well over 20 rebounds. Mid however he suffered a broken a remainder of the year. Unabh became disenchanted with sch classes. After being declared ineligi junior year, Foster returned I and totally dominated Region team to the upper state pla'yol and 19 rebounds a game for co; fhon Hn*? fr> ruircnn:iI roacnnc basketball his senior year. He could earn his high school diplc "Back in high school...thos days, I guess," Jimmy reflect* be disciplined back then, but h< coaches here have really helpe "I knew when I came here chance to play organized bask not to blow it. I like to think know I have a lon^ way t<j? go.'t, Aftar,{i tvvjo.yqar.cjbsenjce, jj playing the game he loves. H hard not to mow the opportur him. Over the summer, he pi; lifted weights, and ran like hi school started, he continued hi class, attending study halls, an It seems as though Jimmy i what all the scouts knew he hac one helluva college basketball | tes scorii oy mcnara rvieyers Sports Editor Basketball is fun again for Carolina guard Zam Fredrick. That was good news for Gamecock basketball fans but not for Davidson as USC downed the Wildcats Saturday night 103-88. Fredrick poured in a career high 41 points, hitting on 14 of 22 field goal attempts and adding 13 points from the free-throw line. The 6-2 senior co-captain from St. Matthews has been on a scoring spree of late, tallying 109 points in the past three games. Fredrick attributes his increased scoring to a revived confidence in his game. "I'm just getting in the groove now where I'm thoroughly confident in everything 1 do," Fredrick said. " Every shot I throw up I just know it's going in. I'm just really finding myself on the basketball court. "It's like high school all over again. I'm jusi oui mere naving a good time. I had so much fun tonight. I was out there laughing and playing basketball, the way I like to play. I'm just having a good time lately and that's it." * FREDRICK HAS emerged as the team's leading scorer this year, averaging 24.7 points a game. But last year, a year he would like to forget. Fredrick averaged only seven points a contest. "I feel like my junior year was wasted completely. I was very upset over the playing time I received. But I don't want to say too much about that. I think it's spilled milk and I think it should stay where it is. "They (the present coaches) let me do probably anything I want to do. When I get out there, I'm freelancing. When we get the ball on the break, I'm free to do anything I want." Fredrick seemed free to do whatever he wanted to do against Davidson, hitting 90 percent of his second half shots to lead the Gamecocks in scoring for the 13th time in 17 games. Fred?-'ck's 16 first-half points and Kenny Holme. . \ points helped USC to jump out to a 44-ab naitume lead over the Wildcats. DAVIDSON RELIED on the sharp shooting of 6-7, 220-pound junior forward Rich DiBenedetto to stay close at halftime. the Gamecock standout, I've never seen a kid who wanted it so bad. He never j1 - ^ ; , r who was once regarded as , chool prospects has finally i 2 ic, ne s found nappiness. f - ot be taken lightly. He has ire he is now and so often it pif? as going to end. Hampton, .Jimmy earned a ! in double figures in both laying against players three t He began his sophombre , . _ ^ ~ early 30 points a game and [ way through that season, . rm and was sidelined for the ' ; ; . i to play basketball, Jimmy ' \ jf :k)1 and he stopped attending I ble for the first part of his 0 the Wade Hampton squad 1 4A competition. He led his fs while averaging 28 points ich Johnny Ross'squad. And r Jimmy didn't play organized attended night school so he [ , . ma. fv:V^ e were my wild and crazy ; d. "You didn't really have to j ?re it s a amereni story, ine Hmgtfj etball and so I worked hard b has worked tremendouilv Sk^S^sHBh lity that coach Foster gave ? lyed ball nearly every day, s coaches suggested. When jfe ? s dedication...never missing f d following the team's rules. Despite hot s at last destined to become I the potential of becoming ? two Vears' ^ )layer. in rebounding nig spree 'Every shot / aL- * * inruw up, / JUST know it's going in.' -Zam Fredrick DiBenedetto, a member of last year's 19791980 All-Southern Conference team, scored 14 points against USC's zone defense, including 12 of the Wildcats first 18 points. After a halftime ceremony honoring George Rogers and the 1980 Carolina football team before 10,173 fans at Frank ivicLiUire Arena, the Gamecocks scored three consecutive field goals to increase their margin over the Wildcats to 15 points DiBenedetto. forward Todd liaynes and guard .John Gullickson sparked a brief comeback for Davidson, as they outscored the Gamecocks 19-8 and cut the USC lead to four, with Carolina ahead 58-54 with 12:48 remaining in the game. But that was as close as the Wildcats could get the rest of the night, because they were unable to shut down Fredrick, who also contributed a game high seven assists. THE CIA IKCOCKS finished with a 103-88 win. marking the first time a Carolina team has tallied over 100 points under Bill Foster in a regular season game. The victory raised Carolina's season mark to 10-7, while Davidson fell to 9-8 Behind Fredrick in the scoring column for USC were Holmes with 21 points, Kevin Darmody with 14 and co-captain Kt. vin Dunleavy with ten. Holmes led Carolina with 13 rebounds, followed by Darmody with 10 and Jimmy Foster with eight. The Gamecocks were credited with 17 assists in the game, but also had 22 turnovers. FOR DAVIDSON, DiBenedetto totaled 29 points, Haynes added 26 and Gullickson finished with 12. The Wildcats committed 24 turnovers and were outrebounded 40-28. See Beidenbach, page 7 1 S&. IRE - Aifl?f5*i^Kl I * -*# # having p/av*>r1 organized basketball in mmy Foster is leading the Gamecocks this season. 'Photo by Barry Newman)