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8 .. THE GAMECOCK • Friday, January SO, 2004 Game.Schedul4 MEN’S AND WOMEN’S SWIMMING vs. Alabama, 4 p.m. Friday Cnntart N * MEN’S BASKETBALL at Ole Miss, lp.m. Saturday „ “ „ MEN’S TENNIS vs. Charleston, 11 a.m. Saturday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? WOMEN’S BASKETBALL at LSU, 2 p.m. Sunday E-mail us at gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu — . , , i .. ... - USC ekes out 5th SEC win, looks for 6th BY JIM ROCHE THE GAMECOCK The USC men’s basketball team (18-2,5-1 SEC) won a thriller, 57-55 over Vanderbilt Wednesday night and gave Vanderbilt its first loss at home this season. Guard Josh Gonner led the way with 17 points for the Gamecocks as they won their fifth straight game. Vanderbilt led 32-28 at halftime after an intense first half that fea tured a fight in front of the Commodore bench between for ward Renaldq. Balkman and Vanderbilt guard Corey Smith. Balkman apparently hit Smith, who then threw Balkman to the ground and started punching him with 5:37 remaining in the half. After a 10-minute delay and a meeting between the officials and both coaches, Balkman and Smith were ejected. USC went on a six-and-a-half minute drought without a basket before Gonner stole the ball and scored to give the Gamecocks a lead 55-53 with 29.1 seconds to go in the game. Vanderbilt’s top scorer of the game, forward Matt Freije, who contributed 26 points, tied the game up at 55 after putting back a missed shot by guard Mario Moore. Gonner then took the ball and drove down court. After the ball rolled around the rim, Kerbrell Brown tapped the ball in to give the Gamecocks , the lead 57-55 with 1.9 seconds re maining in the game. Vanderbilt’s desperation shot by Freije at midcourt wasn’t enough, and USC pulled off the victory. The Gamecocks kept the five game winning streak rolling as they travel to Oxford, Miss, on Saturday to play the Ole Miss Rebels. Ole Miss comes into the match up against the Gamecocks at 10-7 overall and 2-4 in conference play. The Rebels lost to No. 5 Kentucky, 71-61, Wednesday night despite shooting 44 percent from the field and hitting 9-of-17 from 3-point range. Ole Miss features some out standing scorers, such as guard Aaron Harper, who had 19 points in the loss against Kentucky, and Kendrick Fox, who came off the bench and poured in 16 against the Wildcats. The Rebels also have last week’s SEC Player of the Week, 6 foot-8-inch forward Justin Reed, who had a career-high 28 points in the Rebels’ win over Alabama on Saturday night. Reed is averaging 18.6 points a game this season. The two squads are set up for a high scoring offensive match up. Reed and Harper are great shoot ers and Reed is good inside as well, averaging 8.5 rebounds a game this season. USC will need another strong scoring effort from Powell and Gonner to keep pace with the Rebels’ offensive fire power. The game at Ole Miss will be televised at noon on Saturday on Jefferson-Pilot Sports. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu PHOTO BY TRISHA SHADWELL/THE GAMECOCK Josh Gonner 'whips’ a 3-point shot in last Saturday’s win against SEC rival LSU. PHOTO BY DAVID STAGG/THE GAMECOCK Kelly Monroe goes In for the layup in Wednesday’s win against College of Charleston. Women hope to claw win against Tigers BY JAY POU TIIKOAMKCOCK The USC women’s basketball team will be looking for its first conference win when it travels to Baton Rouge, La. on Saturday to take on No. 15 LSU. The Gamecocks (9-9,0-5 SEC) will face a tough test from the Tigers (16-3,4-1), who had won 15 straight games before losing to Georgia on Sunday. Despite tak ing their first loss, the Tigers have managed to carry a national rank ing and the top spot in the SEC West into this week. LSU is coached by Sue Gunter, one of the most experienced lead ers on any SEC court. Sunday’s game against Georgia marked Gunter’s 1,000th career game as head coach, putting her in third place all-time behind Texas’ Jody Conradt and Tennessee’s Pat Summitt. The LSU offense is led by the consistent shooting of a pair of guards, senior Doneeka Hodges and sophomore Seimone Augustus. Hodges has scored in double figures in 12 straight games, including 11 straight with 15 or more points. Augustus has reached double figures in scoring in 10 straight games, while scor ♦ WOMEN, SEE PAGE 9 Daily Recruiting News: USC received a confirmation from three-star defensive tackle Matt Raysor that he is sticking with his original commitment to the Gamecocks Wednesday. Raysor was the defensive MVP in this past seasons’ Shrine Bowl. Four-star linebacker Robert Ayers said in an inter view with Rivals.com that he has narrowed his list to Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee. Ayers was greeted at his home Tuesday night by USC head coach Lou Holtz. Five-star Columbia native offensive line man Leon Hart has decided to at tend Auburn University instead of hometown USC. Scouting the Enemy FLORIDA — A recruiting war is being staged in the SEC East. Atlanta’s standout defensive tackle Michael Brown, previ ously committed to Georgia, has now committed to the Gators. Brown’s coach is denying the commitment but theinsiders.com is affirming it. Florida also received a commit ment on Tuesday from four-star defensive end Mike Mangold from Merritt Island, Florida. Mangold is ranked as high as the 11th best defensive end recruit in the nation. GEORGIA — Despite suppos edly losing out on Michael Brown, Georgia has received a commitment from wide receiv er Ramarcus Brown from East Point, Georgia. Brown is a four star wide receiver ranked as the 14th best athlete prospect by Rivals.com. The Bulldogs also got good news on Wednesday’s “Countdown to Signing Day” when top linebacker prospect Josh Johnson committed to Georgia. Johnson has been rat ed as high as the fifth best linebacker in the country by Rivals.com KENTUCKY — The Wildcats penciled in All-State running back/linebacker Gabe Wallace to their commitment list on Tuesday. Wallace is listed as a two-star prospect. TENNESSEE—The Vols added a crucial prospect on Wednesday by receiving a commitment from fullback David Holbert, a four star prospect. Holbert is ranked as the fourth-ranked fullback in the nation by Rivals.com. Football.recruiting Prep running back opts for Carolina BY JONATHAN HILLYARD THE GAMECOCK The USC football program added more depth at the run ning back position last Wednesday by receiving a commitment from Monroe, North Carolina standout Albert Ashcraft. Ashcraft chose the Gamecocks over in-state rival Clemson, along with Tennessee and North Carolina. In a recent interview with Rivals.com, Ashcraft said, “I had a great relationship with Coach Roberts, my recruiting coach for them. He will also be my position coach at South Carolina. I’m also looking for ward to playing for Coach Holtz. He’s just a great coach and a great man to teach me about life. I am definitely re lieved to have this behind me.” Ashcraft is a three-star prospect and is ranked by Rivals.com as the 42nd overall running back in the country. He is also the 17th ranked prospect out of North Carolina. In his senior season at Monroe High School, Ashcraft rushed for 1,531 yards and 21 touch downs to lead his team to a 7-6 record. In his junior season, Ashcraft rushed for 1,037 yards on 9.2 yards a carry and scored 22 touchdowns. He also ran track in high school, boasting a 100-meter time of 10.5 seconds and a 200-meter time of 21.6 sec onds. Despite being quite a phys ical specimen now, Monroe High School’s Coach Bobby Cloniger told Rivals.com that it hasn’t always been that way. “He was a tall, lanky, skinny little old kid,” Cloninger said. “But we recognized he had speed. By the end of his sopho more year, after football and track season, you could see he had blossomed. He got into the weight room and worked real ly hard the latter part of that year and it really paid off. Now, he is a lean 6-3,190-pounder. He can carry 205, 210 easily. He’s got long strides.” Because of Ashcraft’s size, many schools have recruited him to play other positions, Clemson talked to him about several positions such as free safety and maybe even linebacker. “Whoever will let me stay in the backfield, that’s where I’ll go,” Ashcraft said in an inter view with Thelnsiders.com prior to committing to USC. “I also think I could play earlier ■ at South Carolina.” Ashcraft will meet some tough competition when he ar rives in Columbia, as USC al ready has six running backs on scholarship. At tailback, Gonzie Gray will be a senior, and Demetris Summers and Cory Boyd will both be sopho mores. Junior Daccus Turman will most likely move to full back in the new Carolina I for mation along with sophomore Regis Edgerson and recent commitment Antonio Lamar. USC has also received a com mitment from in-state prospect, Kendrick Lynch, but Lynch is not expected to play running back for the Gamecocks. USC is also waiting for other prospects out of North Carolina, including four-star defensive tackle Marque Hall and three-star running back Andrew Pearman. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports&jgwm.sc.ecki Dummies always corrupt the booth I think we can all appreciate the intricate technical wisdom of a play-by-play sports an nouncer. Example: “It’s not real obvious, Tom, but this game comes down to scoring. Whichever team puts the most points on the board at the end of the day will probably win this ball game. Back to you!” Whoa. We’ll almost certainly hear bland commentary like this on Super Bowl Sunday. _Unfortunately, this is the state °f sports analy KgS2j|B sis. Instead of T iCS exciting, fast *> . JgjjJr paced verbiage with revolu tionary phrases STEVEN VAN like “slam HAREN dunk” coined Second-year every five sec enginecring onds, we get re student gurgitated sod from a panel of suits. On top of that, the planned “camaraderie” in pre- and post game shows is painfully irritat ing. Guys like FOX’s Howie Long and Janies Brown yuck it up with phony rib-jabbing and all sorts of hooting and hollering. Long, the modem American thespian from such duds as “Firestorm,” plays the role of the “good ol’ boy” with enjoyable stiffness. If you doubt his acting skills, check out his off Broadway series of Radio Shack ads. These aging tanks sit around and say things like, “The key to defense is tackling," and, “The Chiefs need more points than the Dolphins to win,” as well as that gritty pearl of wisdom, “Touchdown good, fumble bad, losing worstest.” I can’t put all the blame on the sportscasters. Every player they interview says the same bloody thing when a camera’s shoved in his face: What’s the key to winning this game? “We have to come out and execute.” How did you win this game? “We came out and executed.” What happened to Joan of Arc? “She came out and was executed. The English made some big plays.” But I digress. Not only are these sportscasters more obtuse than the uprights, but they also can’t admit it when their game predictions are wrong. The NFC Championship game is a prime example. Even though I love the Panthers, I can admit that I was less than optimistic about their chances to win. I was silently praying that the Cardiac Cats of this season wouldn’t revert to the Peaked Panthers of last season, who choked more than Mama Cass. The aforementioned Mr. Long muttered something before the game about the Eagles’ “absolute and imminent victory in not only this football game, but ev ery game that they jyill ever play again.” He-then gave Jimmy Johnson a well-choreographed Indian burn. Four quarters later, he was beaming like the Lombardi Trophy, and not just because Terry Bradshaw was tickling him. “Remember what I said be fore the game?” Howie asked. “I knew the Panthers would come out and execute. I see this Carolina team as the best team in sports history.” The panel then spit-shined their hulking Super Bowl rings in unison. Sports commentators need some fresh material. Better yet, they need to think outside the box and just say something orig inal. I’m not talking SportsCenter obscurity, where slick looking guys reference the 1834 Poor Farmer’s Almanac and compare LeBron James to Giuseppe Verdi. These jocks just need to beef up their imagina tions. When you watch the big game this Sunday, mute the television and create your own commen tary. If you can taste the Astroturf, you’re doing a good job. If you feel lightheaded and sick, turn off “Firestorm.”