The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 16, 1990, Page 7, Image 7
Sports
Friday, February 16,1990 The Gamecock 7
Late surge
V By DAVID CARAVIELLO
Staff Writer
CHARLESTON ? Scientists claim that
lightning cannot strike twice in the same place.
Wednesday night at The Citadel, the USC
men's basketball program proved that theory to
be true.
Barely.
The Gamecocks needed a late second-half
rally to come from behind and beat a scraDDv
Bulldog team 69-65 in front of the fourth
largest crowd ever at McAlister Field House.
USC had been down by as many as 14 points in
the second half.
The victory ended a four-game losing skid
for the 11-10 Gamecocks and cleared up a bitter
taste left after The Citadel's 88-87 upset win at
Frank McGuire Arena last year.
"We've lost four straight, so to me this is as
big of a win as we've had," USC head coach
George Felton said after the game. "I'm just really
proud of the kids for making a comeback
like they did after being down 12 points on the
road. We'd been down that many points at Cincinnati
and we folded. Here tonight the kids
came back and turned it up a notch. We really
needed that"
The first half saw the Bulldogs explode out
of the gate and jump all over a lethargic USC
squad. The Citadel backcourt tandem of Ryan
Nesbit and Aaron Nichols rained down six
three-pointers on top of a sagging Gamecock
defense concerned with stopping All-Southern
Conference center Patrick Elmore.
USC was having its offensive problems as
well in the first half. The Gamecocks hit a sixminute
cold spell midway through the half during
which they converted only two of nine field
goal attempts. The Gamecocks went to the
locker room down 36-24 after shooting a woeful
35 percent.
So Felton made some adjustments at halftime,
coming out with a smaller, quicker lineup
intent on stopping The Citadel's three-point
shooting. The lineup held The Citadel offense at
bay long enough for the Gamecocks to mount a
comeback.
High school r<
sign letters of
v-lr V
By The Associated Press
South Carolina signed one of the led Conwa
top players in the state arid onfe of a junior,
the leading kickers anywhere Wed- Simpsoi
nesday, while Clemson nabbed two this past y
top-flight receivers and one of der, and m
Florida's best linemen. tra points
On the first day high school streak of 5
football players can legally sign The Gar
letters of intent with colleges, in- quarterbacl
state teams schools signed players Fredrick c
from up and down the East Coast and Eric IV
as well as from Iowa and Texas, bins High
The signing period continues native of
through April 1. more thai
South Carolina signed 21 play- touchdown
ers, including 12 from the state. who earne
"From the very beginning, we high schoo
have made a conscious effort to than 950
build our recruiting around in-state 1989.
players," coach Sparky Woods As of la
said. had sicne<
Leading the signee list are Con- Ray Fors
way linebacker Lawrence Mitchell 270-pound
(6-6, 230), Marty Simpson of City, Fla.,
Spring Valley, considered one of "Super 24.
the best place-kickers in the na- ered signi
tion, and Vincent Dinkins of Danny For
Lower Richland (6-3, 265), among Coach Ke
the best linemen in South Carolina, hired thre<
Mitchell may have been consid- was able t<
ered the top player in the state had to Clemsor
he not missed the 1989 season because
of a boycott by him and Clemsor
other black players. The players ceivers Cu
were upset by coach Chuck Jor- St. John's (
dan's decision to replace quarter- Wayne Br>
back Carlos Hunt, who is black, hassee, Fla
with a white player who was the Florida's
son of an assistant coach. catches f(
Despite that, there is little doubt touchdown:
Mitchell is a top prospect. Mitch- ished his c*
ell, who is also one of the state's tions. Bro1
top basketball players, runs the fill the voi<
40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds and in Clemson
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propels U!
USC started the second half on a 10-4 run,
culminating with a Michael Glover jump shot
that cut the Bulldog deficit to 40-34. Threepointers
by Johnny Smith and Nesbit boosted
the lead to 46-38, and it seemed that every time
the Gamecocks had a chance to cut the lead to
four or less, The Citadel would pull away.
But the defense would turn the tide. Elmore
hit two free throws to again give The Citadel a
10-point lead at 55-45 with 7:50 left, but those
were the only points the Bulldogs would find
for nearly the next six minutes as the USC defense
tightened up.
And while the Bulldogs were shooting
blanks, USC took over the tempo of the game.
Free throw after free throw chipped away at
The Citadel lead, and a full-court press threw
tne uuiiaog nan-coun game into a panic. Ui>u
took its first lead since the opening minutes at
57-55 on two Eric Sykes free throws with 3:05
remaining.
USC bolstered the lead in the closing minutes,
and after Glover dunked a long Sykes inbounds
pass, the Gamecocks led 65-59 with
only :24 left. Yet The Citadel, one of the nation's
premier three-point shooting teams,
would not fold. Nesbit hit a trey to cut the lead
to 67-65. After Bojan Popovic converted two
free throws, Elmore nailed a three-pointer to cut
the lead to 67-65. The crowd that had been in
the process of filing out returned to their seats.
Yet a dunk by Jo Jo English off a long Glover
inbounds pass sealed the victory and closed the
scoring at 69-65.
The win was poetic justice for a Gamecock
team that had been up by 12 points against The
Citadel last year and lost.
"We wanted to turn it up a notch defensively,"
Felton said of his halftime strategy. "I
felt that if we could get out there and contest
the three-pointers, they weren't going to drop
like they did in the first half. We did that... to
come from behind is big, and we haven't done
that in about four games."
The victory also brim a welcome end to a
disastrous six-game roa swing on which the
UI ts B Marty Simpson
1M f/inf 6'3"<180' KickSn?
ITlHsYll Columbia (Spring V
Parade All->
piacekicker
. . ,, ... Career field aoa
y in rncKies wim iiz as ^ 1i
hit eight field goals the 40 yard line
ear, including a 61-yar- 'c '^,ria ? ,a,J
ade all but one of 87 ex- ?, ,i ? n ? ??
- the miss ending a Hfilcrest-Daizeil
5 straight PATs. _ ^
necocks <ilso signed two iuuy vaics
necocics aiso signea two ? ^ Q
,JaCP? "
School. McDowell, a ' ' ^
Charleston, passed for |en,or vear
. 1.200 yards and 15
s last season. Frederick,
d 12 letters during his a cieon Jones
1 career, threw for more 195, Back
yards and 10 IDs in Mobile, Ala. (Vi>
School)
te Wednesday, Clemson Averaged one t<
1 17 players, including scored per evei
ythe, a 6-foot-4-inch, rushes
[ lineman from Garden Father is Cleon
a member of Florida's starting left field*
" Forsythe had reconsid- World Champion 1
ng with Clemson after York MetS
d resigned Jan. 18. But Runs a 4.4 40
>n Hatfield, who was
J days after Ford quit, Lawrence MitChC
3 persuade him to come 6'6", 230, Defer
L linebacker, Conway
High School)
i also signed wide re- Preseason pi
rt Brown (6-2, 176) of American (sat oi
>f John's Island and De- season)
rant (6-2, 180) of Talla- In 1988, he lec
Bryant, a member of tackles With 112,
"Super 24," had 46 fumble recoveries
>r 805 yards and 10
5 last year. Brown fin- B Vincent Dlnklns
ireer with Id TD iw.pt>- OdK 1 inotva
? v V ) ??W| wn <wu
>vn and Bryant should umbia (Lower Richia
J left by the graduation Consensus All-Sti
's top three receivers.
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540 in Georgia, 271
5C to victor
"We've lost four straight, so to '
me this is as big of a win as we've
had."
George Felton
USC head coach
Gamecocks went 2-4. "It's all difficult," Felton
said of the road trip. "The key to it is how you t
can hang in there mentally, and I thought our 1
kids did a much better job in the second twenty
minutes of the game. We really scrapped, and
that's tough."
For Bulldog head coach Randy Nesbit, the
game was another tough loss in a season of
tough losses. "We've been playing well lately," I
llta .U? 1A 11 T"?..1!J --'J nr.
uiv mam ui iiic m-iz muiuogs saia. 11 cer- ^
tainly doesn't show on our record, but we've i
been playing well... I think our guys had the *
right approach going into the game. They were J
very relaxed offensively for almost all 20 minutes
of the first half we were patient, relaxed
and aggressive when we got our open shot We
didn't have the same type of continuity in the
second half." ?
English led all scorers with 24, 16 of those |
coming in the second half. Elmore led The Citadel
with 20. English and Rhett pulled down 9 <
rebounds apiece for USC, while Elmore had 8
for The Citadel. USC outrebounded the Bulldogs
44-35 and improved its shooting percentage
to 43 percent after a 52 percent second '
half.
USC (69)
English 10-17 2-3 24, Popovic 0-2 4-4 4, Glover
2-5 0-1 4, Eggers 0-1 0-0 0, Sykes 4-7 6-7 14, Rhett
5-10 2-2 12, Leso 1-2 0-0 2, Roulston 3-14 3-6 9.
Totals 25-58 17-23 69.
THE CITADEL (65)
Nesbit 5-11 0-0 15, Dalley 2-4 2-4 6, Holstein 0-1
2-2 2, Nichols 3-7 0-0 9, Elmore 6-19 6-8 20, Mosay
1-8 4-4 6, Smith 3-7 0-2 7. Totals 20-57 14-20 65.
3-point goals: USC 2-6 (English 2-4, Popovic 0-2),
The Citadel 11-29 (Nesbit 5-11, Holstein 0-1, Nichols
3-7, Elmore 2-4, Mosay 0-3, Smith 1-3). Total c
fouls: USC 18, The Citadel 24. Attendance ? 5,004. I
! ! Pitchers be
i rnnrtinlint 1 ?
t opcviwrai, liy DUUU AUBE S
3iley) Staff Writer h
The success of most baseball
. . . teams relies on the success of its v
.1 Lm! pitching staff. .J
The success of USC's baseball f
. team will thus rely on new pitch- a
i*t v?ar v?i ing COach Doug Lambeth- v
Lambeth came to USC from tl
Southern Mississippi where he
served under coach Hill Denson v
h . I from 1986-1989 as pitching coach c
h o^h ' n " anc* Prornoti?ns director.
The ^act that he hac* t0 hol(*
IS t h d?wn tw0 jobs at Southern Missis- j;
ID Wen* sippi persuaded Lambeth to come ,
1 TOf eight t0 wjiere j,e coujd concentrate
on being a pitching coach.
"I was trying to fill two positions
there (Southern Miss.) and it
/Receiver, came t0 the P?*nt where 1 was be- (
gor High in8 average at two things. I like hc
being around the game and had a
Duchdown chance to come and do one thing s,
ry seven an(* try to be the best in the country
at it," Lambeth said.
Jones, Sr., cin^o n*-r\t .?i? * -
oinv^ ailIV1115 ai UJV^, X^dlliUCUl w
has had an impact on helping the L
! 969 New sta|-{- (jevei0p their pitches. g
USC relief pitcher Brian Beat- tc
isive end, Got a news tip?
' (Conway
rep Ail- m
jt senior
I team
had five
CHKI
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Tracy Howie/The Gamecock
Sophomore Jo Jo English passes to teammate Michael Glover in
i game earlier this season. English had a game-high 24 points in
JSC's 69-65 victory over The Citadel Wednesday night.
mefit from Lambeth
on needed some help in getting
is slider back up to par.
"He (Lambeth) helped me with
vith various release points. I was ^IKJISSfl
jtting it hang back, leaving it out
ront," Beatson said. "We worked
lot on that and now I've got
/here I can throw it real sharp at
Lambeth has also worked hard
/ith the staff on developing their
"I'm probably as big an advo- t\
ate that there is on the changeup," \l ^ ||
e said. "I think that the young
id's success is going to depend Doug Lambeth
n that changeup."
1 *i_ t _ i >
kiiow exacuy wnat we re mixing
Even though Lambeth is offi- about.
ially the .pitching coach, he wants "The most important thing for our
) teach the team concept. He and young staff is going to be our abilis
pitchers have spent some time ity as catchers to handle them
dth the catching staff trying to through the rough times. We've
ynchronize their efforts. got to have a catcher and a shorts"I
told them that no matter how top who can jump in there-and
ood you are, you are only going know when the pitcher needs a
d be as good as your catcher," word of encouragement and know
.amberth said. "It doesn't do any when he needs to be smacked up
ood to convey all that knowledge side the head to get him back in
d the pitchers if the catchers don't the ballgame," Lambeth said.
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