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n - ■ » -* " V-.. Inside: Schedule use baseball readies for three- ■ Swimming at SEC Championships, today „ , ■ Women’s tennis at National Indoor game series against Delaware Championships, today State ■ Baseball vs. Delaware State, 3 p.m. ■ Lacrosse vs. Georgia, Saturday 1 p.m. _______---— Sean Rayford Gamecock Sports Chuck Edson dives for a loose ball in ihe Gamecocks' 68-67 win over Mississippi Slate. Eidson set the USC single-season steals record in the contest with 3:59 left, making his 74th steal of the year. USC steals victory from Bulldogs by Jeff Romig Sports Editor It wasn’t pretty. But a win is a win, and that was exactly what USC was in need of when they defeated Mississippi State 68 67 Wednesday night. “We’ve played better and lost,” said Eddie Fogler, USC head coach. “Sometimes, you can play well and lose and you can play average and win. I thought we were average here tonight.” Freshman sensation Chuck Eidson thought “aver age” was an understatement. “That’s probably the ugliest win I think I’ve ever seen,” Eidson said. “It’s still nice to get a W, no matter what in this league because the league’s so tough.’ USC was up by eight with 2:50 left, but thanks to poor free throw shooting on USC’s part, the Bulldogs chipped away at the lead and made a game of it. USC was 9-of-16 over the last three minutes from the free throw line. “Free throws have followed us all year,” Grant said. “We just need to concentrate more. I don’t really have an answer for it.” Grant was one of the key performers for the Game cocks as he led the team in scoring with 16 points and also chipped in with five boards. Fogler was happy with Grant’s performance com ing off the USC bench, but questioned his consistency. “Grant was good here tonight,” Fogler said. “Ask me if he’ll show on Saturday - he’s been inconsistent.. Some days, he plays really well and hard and some days he doesn’t play particularly well.” Eidson, however, has been USC’s most consistent performer throughout the season. This proved true again Wednesday as the guard had seven points, diree rebounds, two assists and three steals. On his third steal, Eidson set the USC single-sea son record for steals. It was his 74th, breaking Barry Manning’s record of 73 in 1991. “Just something 1 can do to help the team,” Eidson said. “To have your name in the record books is some thing very nice, though.” Fogler loves Eidson’s ability to steal passes no mat ter how he goes about it. “The dive on the floor was a huge play,” Fogler said. “He’s got the instincts for it, but the one he dives for on' the floor - that’s hustle. That’s not instinct to read passes; that’s instinct to go get a loose ball.” With 6:05 left, Eidson showed his explosiveness. Eidson drove the lane after a steal and finished with a one-handed dunk. As he was running back down the court, Eidson looked to the student section with a little smirk on his face, showing a little more emotion than usual. “I love our student section,” Eidson said. “It’s just fun out there. It’s tough and it’s hard, but it’s fiin.” What wasn’t fun for the Gamecocks was what took place in the final seconds of the game. With the Gamecocks up by three, Tony Kitchings made an errant inbound pass that was picked off by Mis sissippi State’s Todd Myles. Myles stepped back behind the 3-point line and took his shot - a shot that; if good, would tie the game. Men’s SEE PAGE 9 Mississippi State 12-12, 3-8 SEC TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS No FG FGA FG FGA FT FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO B S MIN 20 Tang Hamilton, I 4 92 55 626 84 15 1400 30 21 Micliael Glioiar, f 5 8 4 5 1 2 3 3 6 5 15 3 3 30 55 Robert Jackson, c 9 11 0 01 264 10 4 19 0101 35 05Todd Myles, g 4 10 2 51 202 23 11 4303 29 11 Antonio Jackson, g 3 11 0 51 201 1 4 7 3 3 ® i 3' 04 Ti. Billups 0 00 00 000 0000000 3 22 Derrick Zinunennan 0 10 00 002 2200100 17 24 Marckell Patterson 0 30 10 214 5 4 ® 1 34 Lincoln Smith 0 00 00 001 1400000 5 Team 10 1 Totals 25 53 8 21 9 16 13 23 36 30 6711 16 1 5 200 r.eolim in.ld SFC TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS No. FG FGA FG FGA FT FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO B S MIN 14 Herbert Lee Davis, f 3 70 26 911 2 0 12 1 0 1 0 24 50 Tony Kitcliings, f 3 60 05 10 44 8 3 11 2 1 0 0 30 12 Marius Petravicius, c 2 40 03 413 4 ® 70 i ? ? H 10 Jan,el Bradley, g 3 8 3 7 1 2 0 1 1 1 10 0 0 0 1 30 31 Chuck Eidson, g 2 4 0 0 3 4 0 3 3 2 7 2 2 0 3 36 OODavidRoss 0 3 0 2 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 14 05 Aaron Lucas 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 2 2 1 2 0 3 0 0 6 15 Travis Kraft 1 3 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 2 8 32 Calvin Clemmons 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 33 Damien Kinloch 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 1 0 0 0 1 1 11 35 Antonio Grant 5 6 1 2 5 8 1 4 5 1 16 1 2 0 1 24 Team 10 1 Totals 20 44 5 16 23 38 8 21 29 16 68 7 10 2 8 200 Tide roll at last second by David Cloninger Sports Editor With 17.9 seconds left and the La dy Gamecocks down 69-67 to Alabama, -senior Annie Lester wanted the ball. Since Lester had already scored 32 points for the second consecutive night and pulled down 13 rebounds, it seemed natural for head coach Susan Walvius to give the ball to her star forward. However, the relentless Crimson Tide defense doubled Lester on the low post, causing teammate Crishna Hill to launch a jumper from the right comer with four ticks remaining. The ball soared right into the hands of Tide defender Shun Hunter, who was promptly fouled with 2.8 seconds left, effectively ending the game and the La dy Gamecocks’ chances for their third 1 SEC victory. Women see page 9 I’ve covered a lot of high school basketball I games during my tenure as a freelance reporter ! for The State. I’ll usually get a call front my boss, Fred Gon ( zalez, on Mondays letting me know what assign ments he wants me to cover during that week. This week was no different. Fred called on Monday asking me to cover Tues day night’s matchup between the Hammond and Cardinal Newman boys’ teams. If Hammond won, they would clinch their re gion with an undefeated region record, j If Cardinal Newman won, the two teams would stand tied with one game left for each team to play. There was one thing different about this par ticular game, though. Fred asked me to do a feature story on one of Hammond’s players while I was there. This was a good thing because bills are overdue and two stories means two times the pay. What I would eventually get from this experi ence would be much more valuable than any monetary sum. Hammond pulled out a 60-52 win after a fourth quarter spurt. All whs well for the Skyhawks as they captured their thira consecutive region title. Money isn't everything When the game ended, I waited outside Ham mond's locker room for Jimmy Braddock, the Sky hawks head coach, to reappear after his postgame talk with his players. We talked about the game. We talked about the region championship. We talked about his star center Zeb Cope and then we talked about his small forward, Robert Scott, who I was to do the feature story on. When I finished talking to Braddock, he intro duced me to Robert. Robert and I chatted for a few minutes aboul basketball, his tom ACL and his upcoming baseball season. After several minutes had passed, I felt like 1 had sufficient information between Robert and his coach to write a solid feature. I turned off my tape recorder and left the gyn to write my game story. When I finished writing from my house, I wa going to go ahead and write my feature on Rober while the information was fresh in my mind, but in stead 1 procrastinated. Because my deadline was Fri day, there was no need to write another story a 11:30 p.m. On Wednesday, I would go about my day as normally would. I made a to-do list and carriei everythin out before 1 would return home. Everytliing except for one thing -1 needed to write my Robert Scott story. It would be the first thing I would do when I got home. I would make it my top priority - after I checked my messages and returned my calls. I discarded the first two messages and jotted down who I needed to call before I came to the third message - from Robert’s father, Ron. He wanted to let me know that he had some additional information about Robert that I might be interested in. The information he intended to give me would add to my story tremendously, but what he didn’t know was that the information that came up in con versation would add tremendously to my life. Ron Scott is an attorney in Columbia. I knew that thanks to Caller ID, but then he mentionec that he went to USC for law school after I tolc him that I was a student. I proceeded to tell him that my father at tended law school at USC as well. The obvious question followed. “Who is your father?” I replied, “He died four years ago. His nam< [ was Steven Romig.” 1 His response was unlike anything I couh have evdfr expected. “I was going to ask,” Ron said. “I worked with your father on many occasions. We w**2 , very close business associates. I am in bankruptcy, as you know he was.” Of course I knew. What I didn’t know was that my late father and Ron Scott used to give each other work when the other was too busy. I also didn’t know what high regard was held for my father. “Your father was one of the nicest people I ever worked for,” Scott said. “One of the smartest too. You father was a brilliant man.” I was stunned. Not that I didn’t believe these things myself, but to have someone that you’ve never spoken to speak such accolades about you father out of nowhere was quite overwhelming. My father passed away Feb. 24, 1996, four years ago next week, but for a brief moment, he was alive again. Ron Scott’s last words to me were, “It was a privilege to get to speak with Steve Rorr.,^ s son.” No Mr. Scott, it was a privilege to speak to you. Thank you for bringing my father back to life, if only for five minutes. 1 I’m glad I waited to write my story on Robert. $ It will most certainly be one of my best. ®