The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 07, 1990, Page 7, Image 7
Rhett's return not enough,
USC loses exhibition game
By DAVID CARAVIELLO
Staff Writer
Thirty-four turnovers. Twenty-four second-half points. Thirty-six percent
from the free-throw line.
Whew. Glad this was only an exhibition.
High Five America, a traveling exhibition squad out of San Diego
made up of former college players, overcame a seven-point halftime deficit
with vicious full-court pressure and strangled the Gamecocks 91-79 in
their first court showing of the 1990-91 season Monday before a vocal
crowd of 4,206 at Frank McGuire Arena.
The loss came despite an inspired performance by USC forward Joe
Rhett, who notched 20 points at halftime and 25 for the game in his first
showing since having a pacemaker implanted last season. Rhett received
a standing ovation when his name was announced during the starting
lineups.
To be fair to the Gamecocks, it was not a total effort. Starting guard
Barry Manning was suspended from participating in both preseason exhibitions
by the university for "a violation of school rules." Senior forward
Michael Glover also sat out the game with a groin injury.
And the injury bug that plagued USC last season struck again when
center Edmond Wilson went down in the first half with a mild sprain of
the medial collateral ligament in his right knee. Wilson is expected to
miss one to two weeks.
n 1 r\nrr untfl Pnntnr Toff D rvn 1 PKrio
tY llovJll, fllUlig win* VV/I1U/1 JVli iXV/UldlUll anu pvjwci lUIWaiU V^iuio
Leso, gave the Gamecocks an impressive inside attack. Wilson had three
rebounds and four points in his limited action, while Roulston scored 11
and blocked three shots. Leso, who thrived on easy put-backs off misses
and short turn-around jumpers in the lane, was the Gamecock's secondleading
scorer behind Rhett with 19.
High Five America was led by former San Diego State forward Sam
Johnson with 23 and former Purdue star Troy Lewis with 22.
"I'm really glad we played the exhibition game early," Felton said.
"They're a good, experienced team. Looking at the stats, I know we had
a tremendous amount of turnovers, but we really haven't worked on our
press attack at this point. The areas that kind of bothered me were basically
free throws and rebounding."
The Gamecocks were a woeful nine of 25 (36 percent) from the freethrow
line and gave up 21 offensive rebounds to High Five America
despite a 48-35 rebounding edge.
"In the first half, I thought we played a pretty good game," Felton
said. "I thought fatigue in the second half kind of caught up with us. I
was really glad we played a game like this early because it gives us an
idea of how to prepare for the next game and really prepare for the Great
Alaska Shootout."
The Gamecocks, who led by as many as eight in a tight first half, went
on a 11-4 run over the final 2:30 of the half to lead 55-48 at
intermission.
In the second half, High Five America tightened its full-court pressure,
forcing turnover after turnover which led to numerous easy baskets. High
Five took its first lead of the second half at 63-62, one it would keep for
the remainder of the game, on a pair of free throws by Chris Jackson
with 13:35 left. That lead was increased to three when Lewis stole the
following inbounds pass and converted for an easy layup.
Jackson came back after a USC miss and hit a three-pointer that gave
High Five a six point lead, 68-62. Jo Jo English converted on a 10-foot
jumper to cut the lead to 68-64 with with 12:34 left, but two steals, two
baskets and two free throws later it was 74-64 and over.
USC got as close as 78-76 with 6:47 left, but High Five went on a 8-0
run to boost the lead back up to 10, 87-77, with 3:12 remaining.
Felton was pleased to see improvement in many of his players, especially
RhetL "Joe Rhett probably had the least amount of conditioning of
anybody, and I was really pleased to see him get in there," Felton said.
"He was real aggressive and didn't back down. We have the makings of
a good team. We just have to get everybody in sync and get everybody
together.
"I thought Edmond (Wilson) did a real nice job. After sitting out a
whole year and not being able to play, I was really pleased to see how
aggressive he was and how well he ran the floor. He helps reboundingwise,
and hopefully his knee (injury) isn't too serious," Felton said.
The game also marked the debut of highly touted freshman Jamie
11 f_i t- 1 . 4 1 1 1 ?L 1 *
waison, who scorea nine points and graoDeu six reoounus in 3U minutes
of play.
"He's a little tentative," Felton said. "Jamie's working so hard to just
try to fit in. He's got a nice presence, and I want him to be more aggressive
offensively. He's really working hard to try to improve himself from
a defensive standpoint. He's got a lot of talent, and I think he's just
going to get better each week."
USC plays its second exhibition of the preseason Friday night at 7:30
against Sparta Czechoslovakia before opening the season Nov. 23 against
Nevada-Reno in the Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage.
The BIG DEAL about Whale]
Shuttlecock service across
Video surveillance syst<
Full furniture packagt
Laundry facilities
Sleep/study lofts
Swimming pool
Office Hours: 254"7801
M-F 9:30-5:30 WW
211 Main St.
* - *\ #
fltafl I /* ^ JiJI?M
USC's Joe Rhett drives for thi
High Five Monday night. The g;
pacemaker installed last basket
points for the fiamftmnks
USC plays Ti;
By BRANT LONG
Assistant Sports Editor
The six seniors on the 11th
ranked USC soccer team hope the
fourth time around is the best
USC advanced to the NCAA
Soccer Tournament for the sixtl
straight time, and the Gamecocl
seniors will be participating ii
their fourth straight post-seasoi
appearance.
The Gamecocks travel to Riggs
Field on Sunday for a rematel
with arch-rival Clemson, rankec
Fifth nationally, in the first rount
of the tournament.
Earlier this season, USC fell tc
the Tigers 3-1 at The Graveyard
USC head coach Mark Berson saic
playing the Tigers again at theii
home field will be difficult.
"It is going to be a great chal
lenge," Berson said. "They'vt
beaten us in the regular season a
our home place, and they an
ranked higher. It will be a hug(
challenge for us as a team."
Tn thf? Ort 1A matrh thp Tiap.n
used a strong second-half perfor
mance and two goals in the stanzi
to win over the Gamecocks. Ber
son does not want the same kinc
fl|H|
mi
y's Mill is...
street
?m
& associates
ei
Ga
HI spl
Co
19
Th
]
^Sta
of 1
or
sen
sch
I
Lai
Wr
ma
i
All
resi
j.
j
is
unc
Imm
Renee Meyer/The Gamecock
3 dunk in the Gamecock's loss to SC
ame was Rhett's first after having a
ball season. The forward scored 25 ^
end
wit
gers in NCAAs S
of second half performance in the <
tournament.
"We need to play two great
[ halves," Berson said. "The last u
" time we played, we had a good 15
first half and had a bad second
half.
or
"We have nothing to lose. They ,,
are higher seeded. We'll roll the
ball out there and play."
Kickoff is at 2 p.m. The winner
, of the match will play ACC
j champion N.C. State, who received 4
j ,3, first-round bye. , >.> pla;
W?0t WL :f>':
WBmK& 4" /-flap " /#3B
? ,y/Jr
py -: .-$gf
WSwgk.
I V
|ljf
HHr
/ 0
-i LvuVl
I^HHr
SPORTS BR
^omen swimmers
irn All-America
rhree members of the Lady
tmecock swim team were
ected to the College Swimming
aches Association of America
90 All-Academic team
ursday.
[sabelle Arnould, Leah Land and
cy Wright met the requirements
having a cumulative GPA of 3.5
better while completing 24
nester hours during the 1989-90
100I year. All three competed in
t 1990 NCAA Swimming
ampionships.
\rnould, a junior, earned a 4.0
A as an anthropology major,
id, a sophomore, compiled a 4.0
A while majoring in pharmacy,
ight, a junior majoring in hunities
and social sciences, had a
C PDA
u wr n.
\rnould and Land also earned
-American honors in the NCAA
ampionships, in the 1650 freese
and 400 individual medley
pectively.
rhe Lady Gamecock swim team
currently 3-1 on the season
ler first-year head coach Kelly
ker.
SC golfers end
:ason in Florida
fhe Lady Gamecock golf team
led their fall season Monday
h a 13th-place finish at the
;er-Tide Invitational in Destin,
. USC finished with a three-day
il of 972.
iophomore Rachel Bates led the
y for the Lady Gamecocks with
asketball Trivia
1. How many past USC basketball
more in their Gamecock careers?
How many Gamecocks have had
I. USC head coach George Felton
Gamecocks. When was Felton's 1
record that year?
L What is the record for most poi
yer? ^
,: s 1
gl
4D
IEFS
rounds of 79, 77 and 84 for a total
of 240 to land her in a tie for 34th
place. Vikki Valentine finished the
tournament tied for 48th place with
rounds of 83, 80 and 82 for a total
of 245.
Senior Aileen Robertson turned
her game around after rounds of
82, 87 and 77 for a total of 246,
tied for 53rd place. Junior Debbie
Eckroth finished the tournament
tied for 56th place after she turned
in rounds of 81, 78 and 88 for a
247 total. Sofia Gervas fired an 82
on Sunday to give her a three-day
total of 254 and a tie for 73rd
place.
The University of Georgia ran
away with the team crown, finishing
ten strokes ahead of second
place Duke.
USC tennis players
play in semifinals
Three members of the sixthranked
USC men's tennis team
squared off in Sunday's semifinal
action of the Barnett Bank Fall Invitational
in Gainesville, Fla.
In one semifinal, Mark Palus
ousted teammate and top-seed PJ.
Langone 4-6, 7-6, 4-0 retired, to
earn a spot in the finals. In the
other semifinal match, fifth seed
Stephen Noteboom (Fla. State) defeated
USC freshman Johan Wiig
6-1, 6-2.
In the finals, Noteboom defeated
Palus in three sets 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 to
win the title.
The men's tennis team travels to
Winston-Salem, N.C. for the Rolex
Regional Championships Nov.
8-11.
players have had 1,000 rebounds their
numbers retired?
has a 67-49 record at the helm of
>est season at USC, and what was
nts scored in a contest by a USC
isa?
HHP