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. 12 THE GAMECOCK ♦ Wednesday, January 22, 2003 GAME S (' H E 13EEE 'V f “■ \ r I 1 / >NJ MEN’S BASKETBALL at Mississippi State, 8 p.m. Wednesday nnuTmirtmTio I If I I Fill W. « WOMEN’S BASKETBALL at Tennessee, 7 p.m. Thursday CONTACT US L-F| I I—^ ' | ' MEN’S TENNIS at USC Winter Invitational, I I ■ I \ I l in Columbia, Friday-Sunday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? ■ \ /|| Ik/ MEN’S AND WOMEN’S TRACK at SEC Quad Meet, E-mailusatgamecocksports@hotmail.com _ m r\^/ in Lexington, Ky., Saturday Florida survives USC scare f PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK Gamecock forward Kerbrell Brown, center, drives through Florida's Bonell Colas, left, and Anthony Roberson. Brown finished with 22 points and four rebounds in the USC loss. Gators’Bonner dunks home the go-ahead basket, Powell’s desperation 3-pointer falls short at buzzer BY SHAWN ROURK THE GAMECOCK Add season highs in team shooting, season lows in turnovers, domination in the paint and a 12-0 fast-break point lead, and the sum should equal a victory in the team’s home court. Add having to play Florida (15-2, 3-0 SEC) into the equation, how ever, and it adds up to a 77-75 loss for USC. “It’s almost unfair what Florida asks you to do. They ask you to take a 6-foot 9-inch guy and guard him at 25 feet,” USC head coach Dave Odom said. “You’ve got to drive them in the ground and finish them, because they are not going to finish themselves. But it’s a night we can build on.” The Gamecocks (7-7,1-3) kept up with the sixth-ranked team in the nation for the entire game; however, the Gators fought through the inside for a late dunk with 33 seconds left in the game. Florida would go on to make three more free throws to put USC away. Florida stayed close for most of the game until its team took the lead back off a 3-pointer from freshman Anthony Roberson to • put Florida ahead 68-67. Carolina hung close, but let Florida senior Matt Bonner work his way inside for a dunk with 33 seconds left in the game, pushing Florida up by two. As the last four seconds ran off the clock, Carlos Powell lost control of the ball going down the court and put a desperate shot up, but it sailed high as time ran out. “We know we lost to a great team, an excellent coach — I think the best skilled team in our league,” Odom said. “And while I’m not into moral victories or anything like that, I think if we can have more performances on a consistent basis like we had tonight, I think our team will grow.” Before the game, Odom said his team would have to work the inside if it was going to be suc cessful. Enter Tony Kitchings. The 6-foot 10-inch senior had a career game offensively. In the first seven minutes of the game, he had already surpassed his sea son-high scoring totals. For the first three minutes of the game, Kitchings was the only Gamecock to score. Kitchings finished with 22 points on the night. However, Florida came out in the second half and held the big man at bay, allowing him only two points. “I thought Florida made a real concerted effort to be more phys ical inside in the second half,” Odom said. Freshman Kerbrell Brown came off the bench to tie Kitchings with 22 points in the game, along with four rebounds, and went 4-7 at the three-point line. Florida shot only 37 percent in the first half, most of it from the outside. Carolina’s zone defense pushed most of Florida’s long range shooters into their comfort zones. Florida made 18 of its 35 attempts from behind the arc compared with USC’s seven. “It’s a pick-your-poison deal with Florida,” Odom said. “You guard them on the perimeter, they open inside. It’s a great move.” The problems continued for USC, which was not able to stop Florida’s second-chance shots early on and gave up 20 points on second-chance opportunities. “In the first half, we said that one of the things we wanted to do was eliminate second shots be cause second shots lead to a 3 point attempt,” Odom said. “I think if you go back and look at the play-by-play, you’ll find that they had three offensive re bounds in the first 10 minutes, and two of them ended with 3 point attempts that went in. That’s a key point.” Florida freshman Matt Walsh also had a big game, scoring 17 on the night, as he hit a few key free throws down the stretch and had his biggest assist on the Bonner dunk that put Florida ahead for good. Carolina will look to capital ize on its performance against Florida to prepare for the rest of the upcoming SEC games. “This loss is a hard loss, but it’s a night we can build on. I can go back and coach on this,” Odom said. “We need to work on condi tioning; some of our guys are get ting tired to easily. We need to work on our offensive execution.” “We played hard,” senior guard Chuck Eidson said. “But there’s still some lapses that we had. We can still improve a lot.” . The improvement will need to come quickly, though; the Gamecocks face Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss., tonight. — Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmai l. com USC mistakes prove costly BY NICK YOUNG THE8AMECOCK The Carolina women’s basket ball team failed to keep its home record perfect Sunday against the Georgia Bulldogs (12-4, 3-0 SEC), when it lost by a margin of 67-59. In the first half, it looked as if the Gamecocks (14-3,2-2) would have absolutely no chance in the contest; they shot a mere 29 percent and committed 14 turnovers in an abysmal first-half performance. The Bulldogs held Jocelyn Penn, the nation’s leading scorer, to two first-half points, slowing down Carolina’s fast-break of fense. Penn added to the Gamecocks’ troubles with two early fouls and had trouble adjusting to the style of play. “In the first half, I was in foul trouble, and I guess I wasn’t fo cused on the game, but on trying not to foul,” she said. “In the sec ond half, I just wanted to go out there and do all the little things to keep my team going.” The loss was the team’s second in its past three games. “I’m not pleased with our over all performance; I’m not pleased with how we started the game,” Carolina head coach Susan Walvius said. “I thought we were careless with the basketball, and we’ve got to do a better job taking care of the basketball. I thought it came down to the last three min utes in each half.” As bad as things were going in the first half, USC had the score tied at 19-19 with a few minutes re maining in the period. But UGA went on a 13-0 run to end the first half with the score of 32-19 in its favor. The Gamecocks and the Bulldogs switched roles as the sec ond half began, and USC went on an incredible 11-3 run to start the period. As the score got closer and closer, Georgia players Christi Thomas and Alexis Kendrick took the game over. After Carolina senior Penn gave the Gamecocks a 48-47 lead, their first lead since 4-2, Thomas scored nine Consecutive points to give the Bulldogs a 56-52 lead with just un der four minutes left in the game. After a few points by each team, Penn hit a line-drive 3-pointer that brought USC within one with only 48 seconds left to play. After a timeout, Kendrick put a dagger in Carolina’s hopes with a big 3 pointer. “It was clutch. Not only that, but they had (Georgia guard Mary Beth) Lycett wide open in the cor ner,” Walvius said. “That was an indication, to me, of a lack of com munication defensively. I think our team was disappointed in how this one turned out.” After another timeout, Kendrick scored two free throws and sealed the UGA win. “I’m disappointed because I thought it was a winnable game,” Walvius said. “It’s frustrating to be at home and have the opportu nity to win a basketball game and not be able to finish it.” USC will travel to Tennessee to play the fifth-ranked Volunteers Thursday. This game will be Carolina’s fifth consecutive against a ranked SEC team. “Our first five (SEC) games are unbelievable, and now we have to go to Tennessee to play,” Walvius said. “Tennessee’s a great team. They are extremely good at home. We’re going to have to play really well to win the game.” The Lady Volunteers (11-3,3-0) come into the game on a high note after their coach, Pat Summitt, be came the first women’s basketball coach in history to reach 800 ca reer victories. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com rnui U dY JUniNiNt n« » iuo/ i nc taAivitOUUK USC point guard Cristina Ciocan calls a play on offense. The Gamecocks suffered their first loss at home Sunday. Brown, Kitchings star in Carolina loss BY MATT ROTHENBERG THE GAMECOCK Though the Gamecocks added a game to their loss column in the standings, there are few negatives one can really take out of their game Saturday night against the sixth-ranked Florida Gators at the Carolina Center. Two pf the major positives from that game were the performances of two of USC’s post players. Center Tony Kitchings and forward Kerbrell Brown played the role of spark plugs on a Carolina team that found little other sources of offense. Kitchings helped the Gamecocks come rushing out of the gates at the beginning. He scored eight of his 19 first-half points to help USC bolt ahead of the Gators, and Kitchings’ defensive play kept Florida’s big men con tained. “We had a good a tonight; we had a USC head coach Dave Odom said. our post guys Kitchings tonight — Tony (Kitchings) and Ro Howell — stood tall against some of the best big guys in our league.” Brown, with 22 points and four rebounds in the game, has been providing sound relief, often as the first person off USC’s bench. On a night when Chuck Eidson and Carlos Powell couldn’t buy a 3-pointer, Brown led the Gamecocks in 3-point field goals, making four of seven. However, as the slugfest be tween the Gators and Gamecocks continued, it ap peared that Kitchings was be ginning to slow down and suc cumb to foul trouble. In the sec ond half, Florida tightened up on its play inside, giving its for wards the go-ahead to prevent Kitchings from getting open, re sulting in the Carolina center’s getting only one shot. Odom thought the Aiken na tive was getting worn out as time went on, though Kitchings denied it. “I’m sure he got tired. I thought Florida made a real concerted ef fort to be more physical inside in the second half,” Odom said. “I thought they felt they were too soft early.” “Tony had a hard time getting shots off, and he was probably get ting fatigued a little bit,” Odom said. Kitchings added: “I could have kept scoring, but Kerbrell was stroking them. And when you got a guy shooting like that, you’ve got to get (the ball) to him. I mean, threes count more than twos, so when I see him hitting, I’ll just pass it along.” Brown began to appear to be getting tired; he played 18 min utes in the second half. In fact, he scored more of his points in the second than in the first. “I think he’s another one that tired,” Odom said. “He played 30 min utes tonight, I would bet that’s the most that he’s played.” The key mo ment for Brown, Brown however, was with 47 seconds re maining in the game. With the score tied at 72, Brown missed a point-blank tip in. Matt Walsh got the rebound ♦ BASKETBALL, SEE PAGE 13 Students show no respect to Gators MATTROTHENBERG GAMECOCKSPORTS@HOTMAIL.COM There are some chants that just don’t belong. Most of you should be ashamed of yourselves. Some of you who were in the student section at the men’s bas ketball game Saturday night made me embarrassed to be one of your peers. Maybe you don’t know what I’m talking about. I think the phrases “Matt Boner” and “Walsh is gay” might ring a bell. Is this what we’ve come to? I know USC fans rival some of the nation’s best, but when I hear heckling like that from my fellow students, why is it that I feel you’re bringing us down a notch or two? Now, I ve been here tor almost four years. I’ve been to many foot ball and basketball games and have heard numerous chants and derisive comments aimed at ref erees, umpires, opposing coaches and opposing players. But Saturday night, you guys took the cake. In my opinion, some of the stu dents were just as bad as the Philadelphia Eagles fans are at home games, or even Yankees fans sitting in the bleachers at Yankee Stadium. You see, the art of heckling has within it a fine line — one that, when crossed, makes you sound like you’re in an elementary school playground. I think most of us here can be considered grown ups. Let’s act like it a little more often. On one side, I think there’s a good type of heckling. It’s OK to boo at a call you don’t like; for that matter, even chant ing “bullshit” toward the referees falls within those boundaries. Also, the usual “good riddance” farewell we give to basketball play ers who pick up their fifth foul would most certainly qualify as a good heckling. I’m sure there are more examples you can come up with on your own. I’m well aware that sometimes, the fans — usually students — will go ahead and pick someone to ride all night long. I guess Walsh was that guy on Saturday. in oi omy Qia you people cross the fine line, you obliterated it. Does it make you feel good to in sult someone by questioning his sexuality? What if someone ques tioned yours? But when Walsh hit those two 3-pointers, I know that shut up most of you quite a bit. Then there’s “Matt Boner.” Gee, like we hadn’t already heard that last year when Florida was in town? It seemed to get old fast this time around, and then he goes ahead and scores the game-win ning basket. I guess that just goes to show that good players can keep then heads despite all the bashing that goes on around them. H$ck, some of them can use those chants as a way to elevate their games. They did Saturday night, and what do you have to say about it now? I’m sure it embarrasses some of the student-athletes’ family and friends, who might be in at tendance that night. Would you want your son singled out and called a homosexual? I seriously doubt it. Words like those don’t exactly give some people a good impres sion of our university. With some students, I guess the Carolinian Creed is forgotten when they en ter the Carolina Center. We can be fans who heckle tastefully and not use words that are, at the least, im proper. Even though it might go on at many other schools, there’s no reason why we need to do it at Carolina. USC men’s basketball head j ♦ ROTHENBERG, SEE PAGE 13