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p. In the latest Trackwire rankings, tl USC men's track and field team is ranked No. 2 in the nation. The woi are ranked No. 8. The two teams tra to Reno, Nev., this weekend for the Cosby Classic. Friday, February 6, 1998 Gamea asst. sports editor NATHAN BROWN ne\ UT\ .11 1 1 .11 iwuDie your pleasure, aoucie your j n fun" sounds like a promising enter- ya prise, especially coming from the lips the of two hot twins in the ads for y01 _ Wrigle/s Doublemint Gum. For Car- m0 olina basketball, however, "double" doesn't coryure up the same feelings je > of pleasure or fun but rather feelings wh of anticipation and anxiety. the As the No. 13 Gamecocks (17-3,7- hig 2 SEC) head into their last eight fro games of the regular season, USC will face five opponents whom they have US already played. In their first go lea around, Carolina recorded four poj wins and one loss against the teams SOr of the SEC East. Although USC won a majority of these contests, three th< games were decided by fewer than fir nine points. cei The closest game was against Van- VI derbilt Jan. 3 when USC eked out a bu one-point victory. In Nashville, Car- on! olina took on the Commodores for the Co second time on Tuesday. But instead of just doubling their pleasure, the th< Gamecocks quadrupled their delight, tre winning by a margin four times na greater than that of their first meet- co; ing, 65-61. sei Behind a strong defensive effort aw and the sinking of key foul shots down a > the stretch, Carolina came back from re; a half-time deficit of four points to get tie the win. * ly But in the first half, the Game cocks found themselves down by as off many as nine points and never led in a\ the first 20 minutes alter scoring the ce first basket of the game. In the sec- kn 1f? ond half, USC climbed out of their frt half-time hole and took the lead for sis good at the 10:58 mark on a dunk by LeRon Williams. ca USC concentn sports editor BRYAN JOHNSTON pr Di USC football coach Brad Scott has put together his best recruiting class since coming to Carolina. "South Carolina has put together a very solid class," Southeastern recruiting analyst Forrest Davis said. "It's the best class since Brad e [Scott] has been there." P" The biggest of those early commitments is Keith Matkins of Char- ba lotte. The 6-feet-3-inch quarterback sh from West Charlotte High School is ar ranked as the No. 7 quarterback er K f T # Kappg Welcome thpi i k " I COH(i PIZZj 'BIST ROCF We Deliver Tn Th#? TT?r AW 5 ? Campus! Kitchen & Delivery Always Open Late! Open: r 11KI0 ULI 2^)0 UL nnp ^^^561^0800^^^^ le men ivel Bill >cks h Carolina's advantage, however, fer grew to more than eight points. fully difficult place to win against rery good Vanderbilt team. I was illy pleased with our poise and pance offensively. I think defensivewe did a great job on Maddux." While the defense rattled Vand/s ense, Carolina's offense worked like veil-oiled machine, hitting 48.1 pernt of their shots from the field, /vlfinor Hnum 7fi fi r?or<?ant nf tVipir je throws, and racking up 11 asits. Six of the Gamecocks' 11 assists me from Melvin Watson who douates on defe ospect in the nation on PrepStar's earn Team. "The arm strength that he has d the potential that he's got is what so exciting about him," Scott said. While one player on offense is genating a lot of talk, 18 prospects on fense is what Scott was most jased about. "On the defensive side of the foot.11, we ended up with 18 scholarips," Scott said. "It was a big need ea for us there. We got the plays we really went after." ]r\rr < i Lyu ^i<2J\yui \ fllpha r spring 1998 J flpril frogman !>hana Jordan Meredith kaueknpr Jaequp Mittglstadt Nizttig <l>eagraves Jennifer ?mith iRfirmsfii ma, ZaS Robins fl 1105 wit] ,o Red Fish Feb. 6th Also In Februar Brass Candle Feb. 131 The Crude Earles Feb. 201 Barefoot Brothers Feb. 27 Crash Andrews Feb. 28 725 Broad River Ri ier the age ot 21. it is against the law to bu the last minutes of the game, ndy, who was down by only four at s time, used the old foul-and-hopeii-miss strategy. But the Comdores picked the wrong guy to foul. Starting with 1:19 to go, Bj Mckvas sent to the foul line three times lere he calmly made 5 of 6 to seal s game. Mckie finished with a team;hl5 points, seven of which came m the free throw line. At the other end of the court, iCs defense held the SECs seconding scorer, Drew Maddux, tol2 mts, which is well below his seal average of 18.1. In the meantime, Carolina stymied i entire Vandy team, which ranks st in the SEC in field goal perltage, from the floor. On average, J hits 48.5 percent of their shots, t Carolina allowed them to make ly 42 percent. USC also forced 13 mmodore turnovers. "[I] credit the players for getting imselves ready to play after that mendous comeback [against Cincinti] on Sunday in Columbia," USC ich Eddie Fogler said. "They de ve a lot of credit because this is an Spc The G? old off1 ! . / bled his fun on Tuesday by scoring his first double-double of the year with hi 13 points and a game-high 11 boards, to "Watson was great here today," si Fogler said. "He was really into it. He fh was outstanding and made some aw- M fully big shots down the stretch on Dossessions where the clock was run ning down, and thaf s one-on-five to 86 some degree. I know Ryan Stack was ta absolutely great here in the second half-" ? Stack finished with 12 points on an incredible 6-for-7 from the field p( and three rebounds. With eight of his 12 points coming in the second half, Q^ Stack was instrumental in helping the Gamecocks get back into the game, t() especially when he sank a shot at the m 14:41 mark to tie the game. er "It feels good going out," said co Stack, a native of Chapmansboro, er Tenn. "[It's] personal satisfaction, g? knowing that I gave it all tonight. [We] played well, and the team came a away with the victory. So it was a th good win...[Now, we] have to move vi onto the next game at Tennessee this Saturday." gi 1 m CAMETIHE-" 2 P.M. saTuneayj fKEYMATC Mckle vs. USC defeated Ten 21, 81-51. But th< without freshman 1 who was out with an ris is back and ave ppg. He will go ag? ^ who averages 17.3 Gamecocks: 17-3, 7-2 SEC :nse in '98 reci Carolina signed two excellent line backers with good size and speed m ai Richland Northeast's Gerald Robin- ai son and Allendale-Fairfax's Kenny Harney. se Scott was also extremely pleased H with the runningbacks the Gamecocks were able to sign. hi "The quality of the runningbacks st in this class are extremely good," Scott o 1 said. pi Jamie Scott is recognized as one of the top runningback prospects in w the Southeast. B ~7 of -.J!-' . Th^tea \ Members ik 4* noN?i r /_ ? Our f i (specials: ^ItXMot). LJr^ Customer /m Appreciation Nieht Drink Specials i @ Tucs. Ladies Nieht $1 off All Drinks for the Ladies After 10 P.m. C7?3 $$ Wed. James Bond Night ??-jf- Shaken-Not Stirred ' Cffln 0 Specials and Cigars UQUIC a,| Nifihf Lonfi Blu Fisil Af,er,OP'm& 7th H? Thurs. College Night ^ $3.50 Pitchers of 1 14 Beer with College 10. 121 Other Drink Specials HI Son. I KARAOKE 8 p.m. 'till Midnight oad @ Greystone y alcoholic beverages. All ABC regulations enforced 3RTS imecock Vatidv I J Stack will get to see some more of s home state, as Carolina heads up Knoxville to take on the Univerty of Tennessee Saturday. In their rst meeting of the year, Carolina ew out the Vols 81-51 in Columbia. But this time around, USC will ce two obstacles that weren't prent in the first game. First, the game kes place in Thompson-Boling Area, which seats 24,535. Playing in noxville can be tough as No. 14 Ole iss found out earlier this year when ley were upset by the Vols 67-77. Dsting a record of 6-9 at UT, USC as also had difficulty with the Vols l the road. Second, not only will Carolina have face thousands of screaming Vol iteer tans but also U1 s leading scor Tony Harris, who missed the first mtest with an injury. Harris is av'aging 14.2 points and 1.8 steals per ime. Carolina heads into the game on seven-game winning streak while le Vols are coming off of a 29-point ctory over Georgia. The tip-off is slated for 2 p.m. The ime will be shown on J-P Sports. Tennessee TCLCVZSED: J-P SPBRTS *?UP: r^pgr-n Harris m nessee Jan. CL - } Vols were iF** ^ ' Pony Harris, l v 4'* 1 ii\jury. Harraging 14.2 linst Mckie, / nl.1 PPg- li__ -A Volunteers: 14-5, 4-5 SEC ruiting class Nate Gary rushed for 1,703 yards id 19 touchdowns his senior season 1 Laurens High School. Jonathan Martin was an All-state election from Richland Northeast igh School. Keeping the state's best talent ime was important to Scott and his aff, and they managed to sign five f the SuperPrep's top 10 state rospects. In all, Carolina signed 12 players ho participated in thel997 Shrine owl. 1 nr_ r -j - . r iciuies uf v following gent. on Corey Albert 1 Stephen Ardis IS Bryan Baxter t Bailey Beard Scott Beebe Matt Behr Danny Blocker ' Matt Bogart Bill Bowden Miller Brice Bubba Britton Blake Brown Jason Brown Walt Burch Ryan Butler n u uuan uaiuiuii c Jeff Cartwright Jay Coan Grady Chandler James Compton Edward Conroy Chris Copenhaver Kyle Cox Kyle Crabb J S s/a I m}m Carolina qu when all 5 c larry WILLIAMS, Scoop Shots We wistfully wondered what would happen if USC's basketball team finally put it all together. We thought we knew what would result when not only Bj Mck-_ ie and Melvin Watson came to play, but when Ryan Stack, William Gallman and LeRon Williams did, too. "Whenever those four put it all together in one," most of us said to ourselves, "thafs going to be a damn good basketball team." Tuesday, in USC's 65-61 win at Vanderbilt, five players put it all together. USC was a damn good basketball team. And, for the first time this season, the No. 13 Gamecocks played like the No. 13 Gamecocks. Or, quite possibly, better. Sure, in the beginning, middle and end, USC was led by the usual suspects, those two sure-thing, future USC Hall-ofFamers, Watson and Mckie. But filling in the holes with rebounds, putbacks and tough defense were Williams, Gallman and Stack. Three players whose performances made this the truest of team victories. Threa more reasons to think that if this happens with a smidgen of consistency, anything can happen from here on out. Call this one a "complete" victory, USC's first of the season. All too often in the past, the guards rescued the team with their last-minute feats. This time, however, the rest of the team played with a certain malevolence, an assassin's mentality that gave the Gamecocks an entirely different look. When this happens when Carolina gets it from five players instead of two- the Gamecocks can beat anyone, anywhere. You could tell from the beginning that coach Eddie Fogler's intentions weren't a i a fir a ? if i *i i ii 10 let waison ana MCKie win it Dy memselves. In the first half, Williams got more attention than usual from Watson in the low post?so much attention that Williams twisted and turned his way to score seven of USC's first 13 points. With four minutes left in the first half, Williams showed one too many of his feisty moves. Williams and Vand/s Austin Bates found themselves a tangled mass in the middle of the lane, falling to the floor. Whistles blew. Bates said something Williams Hirln't lilf a crave him a little shnve Williams gave his parting shot, a finger jabbed surreptitiously to Bates' face. The refs didn't see it, but Fogler did. Williams to the bench. r7Up?a c2)efia tPi wou. femen /o (heir OBfacA Driday, ^dedruary 6, 3en Cunningham Charlie Hur Sam D'Angelo Delbert Inal lohn Mason Davison Glen Johnsc Vlatt De'Antonio Caldwell Jol ?Vill Dennis Stephen Kel Stephen Dinkins Jason Kivet frey Duckett Hammond I l*ee Dumas Jason Lockh Paul Faistl Jack Lostett L?ee Ferguson Levin Lynch Vlatt Freeman Cooper Lyni Vlatt Gough Brad Mann Sric Griffin Patrick Mar Kevin Hamilton Peter Matra Hamilton Harrelsori Kevin Meet: lason Harvey Edward Mu David Harwell Wade O'Kell rVes Harwell Drew Paintt Vlatt Hefferman Matt Pruitt iugh Hellenga Bryan Rabb roe Hills Steven Reev Kip Hodge Wayne Ridg lason Hodge Chris Riley Stokely Holder Chris Robbi rt trends, otners cr ^success? check out your horoscope on pg. 4 Nate says Tennessee's first basketball victory came on Jan. 27, 1909 when the Vols scored a 55-16 victory over the Tennessee School for the Deaf. Page 5 ite a team :ome to play Three minutes later, Williams checked back in. This time, he retaliated the correct, and legal, way. First play on the' offensive end, Williams hauled in a pass, executed a forceful pivot move and shot a mean turnaround jumper fromlO feet. Bates had tight coverage, but unfortu nately, so did his jaw, which fell victim to a brutal .Williams forearm. Williams lost his cool the first time, came close to incurring a technical foul. Second time around, he sent a different message to Bates: 111 do it legally, and if s still going to hurt. Fogler wanted to see ifWilliams could carry the offensive load Tuesday. After Williams made three baskets, drew three Vandy fouls and scored 11 points, Fogler might have had his answer. He got an answer from Stack, too. The senior played a hard, rough-and-tumble 37 minutes, shedding his timidity for tenacity. Stack showed his usual moves on the perimeter that, no matter how many times .. we see them, just don't seem conceivable for someone 6 feet 11 inches. Two times he faked Vandy defenders out of their astute gordes for easy baskets. But Stack's most impressive moments rame in the naint. where he showed his muscle, battled for offensive rebounds and put them back into the basket with vigor. Stack was a little bit of everything Tuesday, which is all USC ever needs him to be. And what would a close USC victory be without Antonio Grant? To USC fans, thafs Antonio Grant, sir. The fresh- * man left his late-game heroics in Columbia this time. Two last-second, game winning shots in two games are enough ' for one week, thank you. But Grant still managed the impossible in the first half, this time taking a transition pass from Watson under the basket for a spinning, Jeremy Stansell ino Mike Starnes Eric Strand le David Strawhorn rphy Jason Sutton [y Joseph Thompson ;r Trey Tolbert Jon Vanttook Justin Verona res Daniel Ward eway Barry Wheeler Cory White ns Kelly Williams / r r %eate legends. u i l i a i l ic t E R L EIH A W EIDIL I N E B ' T TW* ? ? WA ^ E s T E Eli) SELESSNESS ? A K E sjBHT O EH I s I H A M E "dMtTw I S T| I |N|G| 1NjO T MMBpTTfir N 0|L I E E R I |N|C A R R Y|E L L E ?I ED OffH AVE TPm|D" I TT T|e" n[d e r e dUt s e t s e IPPPlA N TW||S E I N Tppl BESTSELLER ? R A C H EUR OAR S|F ALA C H A R^S I N Q El AlC I D H 01 PlS^Bis IE IE IR B 5]y|ETS t squirming shot that had no business going through the net. Gallman was his usual, blue-collar self. In 19 minutes, he grabbed six rebounds and scored six points. Unimpressive at first glance, but Gallman's impact transcends the simple box score. He's got the most energy on the floor, plays scrappy defense and does just enough to force an off-balance jumper or tip the ball to a teammate. Yes, USC's come-from-behind, 67-65 win over Cincinnati Sunday was impressive, a true miracle from somewhere. But Tuesday's win at Vandy told us something more, that these Gamecocks aren't just lucky. They can be good, too. fcf fiJze /o inoite the Diamoncf Ohrmaf 1998... it Deric Rosenbaum ainet David Rumph >n Billy Schwartz tinston Heath Sesions lly Brian Simon Reid Sharard .lister Michael Shryock tart Jason Smallwood ;er Clay Smith i John Smoak 1 Ridge Stafford