Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Inside: USC women win Basketball Classic, Kelowitz proposes changes in sports for2000 Schedule ■ Men’s basketball vs. Syracuse, Thu. ■ Women’s basketball vs. Tennessee, Fri. ■ Men’s basketball vs. Kentucky, Sat. ■ Women’s basketball at Mississippi State, Mon. USC ends streak with 76-65 win over Razorbacks Gamecocks grab first-ever victory at Arkansas to finish break at 4-3 Men’s Basketball Roundup Gamecock Sports The South Carolina Gamecocks got their first South eastern Conference victory of the season Saturday with a win at Arkansas’ Bud Walton Arena. Two USC sophomores stole the show as guard Jamel Bradley shot four 3-pointers in the first half and forward Damien Kinloch scored a career-high 14 points on their way to a 76-65 win in front of a hostile crowd. The Razoibacks cruised to a 14-5 lead before USC woke up and went on a 9-0 run to tie the game. From there, USC took the lead and never looked back, shooting at a 59 percent clip and making 10 of 18 from the 3-point line. Arkansas’ Chris Walker and Alonzo Lane led the Hogs with 13 and 12 points, respectively, but they and the rest of the opposing defense had no answers for the acrobatic flair from USC’s guard tandem of senior Herbert Lee Davis and freshman Chuck Edson. Davis muscled into the lane for many of his 16 points while Edson directed the offense, scored 15, pulled down six rebounds and added two steals to his SEC leading tally. “It’s exactly what I expected,” Eidson said of the game’s result. “This place was electric.” The Gamecocks were without junior forward Antonio Grant and freshman sharpshooter Travis Kraft. Grant pulled a groin muscle during practice Friday and should be ready for Thursday’s matchup against Syracuse in Columbia. Kraft has a stress fracture in his foot, suffered before the Dec. 16 game at Clemson, and will miss at least one more week. He has not played since Dec. 4. USC improved to 9-5 on the season while evening its conference record at 1-1. Arkansas dropped to 9-6 overall, 1-1 SEC. Tennessee 60, USC 52 South Carolina dropped their conference opener for the second consecutive-year to the No. 13 Volunteers, who used a trapping defense to limit the Gamecocks to one of their lowest offensive outputs of the season. USC saw its seven-game undefeated record at Frank McGuire Arena broken while adding to Tennessee’s four game winning streak against USC. Tire Vols, (14-1,24) SEC), were led by sophomore Vincent Yarbrough’s 18 points and five rebounds, as well as junior point guard Tony Harris’s 12 points and four assists. The Gamecocks couldn’t seem to find an answer for Ten nessee’s smothering defense, which constantly caused USC to miss easy inside buckets and give up offensive rebounds. Although USC shot 41.4 percent for tire game from the field, its 3-point game was strangely missing. The Gamecocks (9-5, 1-1 SEC) attempted only six 3-pointers in the entire game, making two. ‘ They pressed our guards a little harder than they’d been pressed before,” said freshman center Tony Kitchings. “We had to go inside, and we didn’t come up like we should.” USC was led by 12 points each from freshman center Marius Petravicius and Grant, who also had eight rebounds. Davis contributed 11 points in the losing effort. ‘We had our chances in the second half, but we made some ill-advised decisions,” said head coach Eddie Fogler afterwards. “Aside from that, I’m pleased with our effort.” USC 75, South Carolina State 49 The Gamecocks matched their win total of the 1998-99 season with a 26-point shellacking over the in-state rival Bull dogs in front of 7,102 people at Frank McGuire Arena. USC was led with 16 points from Bradley, who came off the bench and converted four of six 3-point shots. Davis and Petravicius contributed 10 points each in the rout, Carolina’s eighth straight over S.C. State. The Bulldogs (3-9) were plagued by a 23.2 percent shoot ing night, limiting star guard Mike Wait re to 12 points, and also couldn’t get past Eidson. Eidson had five steals against the Bulldogs, feeding his teammates several fast-break op portunites, which they readily converted. The Gamecocks started out hot, shooting 44.8 percent in the first half. The Bulldogs closed the gap the four points, but a technical foul called on Bulldog senior Duane Men's set page b3 Sean Rayford The Gamecock Damien Kinloch drives through Tennessee’s Tony Harris (right) and Marcus Halsllp (left) on Jan. 5. South Carolina women fare well over holidays with 5-1 record Women’s Basketball Roundup Gamecock Sports USC 73, Charleston Southern 38 In their final game before starting SEC play, the Lady Game cocks thrashed Charleston Southern 73-38 at Frank McGuire Arena Sophomore Jocelyn Penn poured in 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead Carolina to the easy win. Penn was joined in double-figure scoring by senior Annie Lester with 17 and sophomore Shaunzinski Gortman with 15. Freshman Kelly Morrone added eight points and five assists off the bench. USC shot just 34.2 percent from the field in the first half, missing easy layups down the stretch. Carolina would finish the game shooting at a 40 percent clip while holding Charleston Southern to just 22.4 percent from the field. “We had a deal before this game that if we came out with great intensity for a full 40 minutes then we would not practice tomorrow,” said USC head coach Susan Walvius. “After today’s game, we will be practicing tomorrow.” USC will face Tennessee Friday at Frank McGuire Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. USC 62, George Mason 48 USC allowed only 17 second half points to the Lady Pa triots as they overcame a 12-point deficit to win 6248. Lester led the Gamecocks with 20 points while center Petra Ujhelyi pulled down 11 rebounds, her second straight dou ble-figured rebounding performance. The stingy Gamecock defense stifled the Patriots in the sec ond half, forcing them to shoot only 28 percent. N.C State 69, USC 55 The No. 4 Lady Wolfpack proved to be too much for USC as they handed the Lady Gamecocks their only loss of the hol iday break in Raleigh. USC kept the lead within single figures throughout most of the second half, but couldn’t score in the last four-and-a-half minutes. The Wolfpack’s Summer Erb scored 15 and got 13 rebounds over the Gamecocks. use 100, S.C. State 55 In a game in which they never trailed, the Lady Gamecocks emphatically ended the 20th century with a 100-55 thrashing of South Carolina State. Penn led all scorers with 28 points on 11 of 12 shooting along with eight rebounds and four assists. Lester added 20 points and Gortman fell three rebounds short of her second triple double of the week as she added 18 points, ten assists and seven re bounds. " Women’s see page B2 David Cloninger Sports Editor For those loyal readers of this column, however few of you there may be, you obviously know that 1 am a staunch supporter of Atlanta Braves baseball and all the athletes who represent the organization. So, it came as no surprise to me that several interested parties asked my opin ion of the whole John Rocker mess, which has managed to offend just about everybody in the country, even sportswriters who are supposed to be fair and un biased, and should know better. Without further ado, here is my opinion of our favorite closer and his comments. I am absolutely, positively, without a shade of doubt in favor of him. Now before you liberal pantywaisted twerps out there start calling for my head on a platter, even though it’s probably too late for you ignoramuses who call your selves Mets or Yankees fans, let me explain myself. Yes, Rocker’s comments were vile, tasteless and stupid. Yes, he should have known better than to offer his extremist views to any personage of the media, much less a writer from the most popular sports publication in the nation. Yes, he should have just shut up. ClOnTnQER see page B2 America's team should close out Rocker's career Jeff R O M I G Sports Editor The Atlanta Braves bill themselves as America’s team. It’s too bad that the guy who closed out 37 games for the National League Cham pions in 1999 isn’t keen on the fact that America is made up of many different cul tures, races, sexes and religions. That’s okay though, right? People are entitled to their own opinion because we do live in America. I would have to assume that most people wouldn’t blast each of these different people in an interview with the largest sports publication in our country. That’s what John Rocker did in the Dec. 23 issue of Sports Illustrated. He blasted women. He blasted foreigners. He blasted teen-age mothers. He blasted AIDS patients. He went on and on and then when the story broke, he made a blanket apology through his agent for all of the things he said. ftOMKT SEE PAGE B3