The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 30, 2005, Page 13, Image 13
GAME SCHEDULE
BASEBALL at The Citadel, 7 p.m.
p e j 3 MEN’S BASKETBALL vs. St. Joseph’s
•.it i i „ _ __ _ in NIT Championship, 7 p.m. Thursday
Wednesday, March 30, 2005 MEN’S TENNIS vs. Tennessee, 2 p.m. Friday
NIT SEMIFINALS USC 75, MARYLAND 67
ED BETZ/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
USC’s Carlos Powell shoots around Maryland’s Travis Garrison during the second half of the NIT at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.
Powell Play
■ Basketball advances
to tournament's final game
By JONATHAN HILLYARD
“PORTS EDITOR
USC’s run to a championship continued
Tuesday, as the Gamecocks defeated the
Maryland Terrapins 75-67 to advance to
tleir second NIT final in four years.
With the victory, USC (19-13) improved
to 2-0 in the NIT against ACC foes, as the
Gamecocks defeated the Miami Hurricanes
in the first round of the tournament.
The first half began with Maryland pretty
much in control, taking a 14-9 lead early in
the game. Upperclassmen took over for the
Gamecocks, though, and USC went on a
16-4 run midway through the first half to
pull ahead of Maryland, building a lead they
would never relinquish. Seniors Carlos
Powell and Josh Gonner and junior Antoine
Tisby led the way for USC in the'first half,
scoring 24 of the Gamecocks’ 41 points in
the first 20 minutes. Gonner provided a
scoring spark with 11 points off the bench.
Tisby added 7, and Powell notched 6 in the
first period. The scoring was balanced for
the Gamecocks though, as eight players
scored in the first half.
The Gamecock defense was critical early
on, as USC held Maryland to just l-for-8
from the 3-point line in the first half to take
a 12-point, 41-29 lead into the break.
Junior guard Chris McCray led the way for
the Terrapins early, leading Maryland with 11
points at halftime. Terrapin leading scorer,
♦ Please see RECAP, page 14
ED BETZ/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Saint Joseph's Pat Carroll, right, shoots around
Memphis’ Anthony Rice on Tuesday.
■ St. Joes defeats Memphis,
will face USC on Thursday
By STEPHEN FASTENAU
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
At least the Gamecocks won’t have to
play Memphis.
Saint Joseph’s defeated Memphis in the
semifinals of the NIT Tuesday night,
ensuring that USC will not have to face a
team that has tormented the Gamecocks in
the past.
The Tigers topped USC 72-62 the last
time the Gamecocks reached the NIT final
in 2002. Last season, it was Memphis that
knocked USC out of the NCAA
Tournament in the first round.
After going 20-11 during the regular
season, the Hawks were surprised to find
themselves left out of the NCAA
Tournament and have played in the NIT as
if they have something to prove. Saint Joe’s
has raced through the postseason
tournament by playing gritty defense.
None of the Hawks’ four opponents
have reached more than 60 points, and one
team, Hofstra, scored just 44. Coach Phil
Martelli’s team has duplicated the defensive
success they had during the regular season,
holding opponents to just 58.6 points per
game.
On the offensive end, Carroll leads the
team with 18.2 points per game. Junior
center Dwayne Jones averages 10 points
and 11 rebounds per contest and was the
Atlantic 10’s leading shot blocker for the
♦ Please see PREVIEW, page 14
Commercials ride tournament’s coattails
Since it’s March Madness and I
am addicted to all that is college
sports, I have been glued to the
TV for hours at a time for
basically the last few weeks
straight. I have learned a lot. I
have learned that if I lie on my left
side for long enough, my left foot
will go numb and start to twitch.
I have learned that having a
remote control with dead batteries
is even worse than not having a
remote control at all. I have
learned that if Raymond Felton
was any more bowlegged, he
could go No. 2 without sitting
down. And most of all, 1 have
learned that you can’t watch seven
hours of television without seeing
three hours of commercials.
First of all, 1 know it was a few
years ago, but did Flootie & the
Blowfish make that many bad
investments? Darius Rucker is
now dressing up like a member of
a mariachi band and singing about
sandwiches on a Burger King
commercial. Darius, you used to
bf the man. Don’t you /remember
Hold My Hand”? Have you
already forgotten “Let Her Cry’?
If I see you singing about chicken
sandwiches
“^7. H one more
time, i am
going to lose
faith in
mankind
forever. Don’t
do that to me,
D, don’t do
that to me.
Another
commercial I
saw way too
many times
was the
NCAA
commercial
JAKE
BROOM
SECOND-YEAR
POLITICAL
SCIENCE
STUDENT
wnicn snows people playing sports
and talking about them and then
shows them at their “real job”
after they graduate. It ends with a
narrator talking about how many
NCAA athletes turn pro in
something other than sports. This
reminds me — Clemson recently
released its official NCAA team
GPAs, sjnd the men’s basketball
team had a stellar 1.86 average. I
think Clemson should put out its
own version of this commercial
showing former basketball
players. “Not all Clemson athletes
turn pro in their sports. Some
spend the rest of their lives
shooting dice behind the YMCA
with Ashy Larry and Tron.”
Chris Farley dying young was
the worst thing that ever
happened to David Spade. The
man who was once spitting out
classic lines like “I can’t hear you,
you’re trailing off, and did I catch
a niner in there? Were you calling
from a walkie-talkie?” is now
doing horrible commercials for
Capital One. What I don’t
understand is this: If the man was
once a comedian, why can’t they
at least make the commercials
funny? “He shoots ... nothing but
NO!” I’m not even 100 percent
sure what Capital One is, but I’m
assuming it’s evil.
Another commercial that got
semi-annoying was the American
Express commercial with Coach K.
Basically, he just talked about what
he believes a great leader should be
and how that relates to his
profession. I see Coach K, and I see
American Express, and I am
confused. I still don’t really
understand what the two things
have in common, but I don’t see
the big deal. All the North Carolina
fans are freaking out, saying that
this is an unfair recruiting tool and
that this shouldn’t be allowed. Well
my theory is that if the kid decides
he wants to go to Duke because of
an American Express commercial,
chances are he can’t get in to Duke
in the first place. Maybe Coach K’s
three national championships and
12 National Coach of the Year
awards might have a litde
something to do with it. Just a
hunch.
Well, there goes my word limit,
and I didn’t even get to wonder if
I suffer from “taste loss,” or if
women really are like
McGriddles. There are only so
many hours of basketball left,
which means there are only so
many hours of commercials left.
And only so many more brain
cells left to die because of them.
use football
returns to field
By MICHAEL FINNEGAN
FOR THE GAMECOCK
The Carolina football team was
in full force Tuesday after four
days of rest because of Easter
weekend and the bad weather that
cancelled Monday’s practice.
Tuesday’s practice marked the
one-third point, as this was the
fifth of 15 spring practices, the
15th being the Garnet vs. Black
Spring Game.
OFFENSE
Going into Tuesday’s practice,
junior walk-on Brett Nichols was
listed as the No. 1 quarterback. On
the 11-11 drill at third-and-10,
Nichols was at the helm for 13-of
23 snaps. Nichols showed poise in
hookups with juniors Syvelle
Newton and Noah Whiteside and
freshman Sidney Rice.
Sophomore Blake Mitchell and
freshman Antonio Heffner split
the rest of the snaps. On the other
11-11 drill, fourth-and-15,
Heffner took seven of the snaps,
with Mitchell taking the other five.
Mike Rathe took limited snaps and
is still waiting for a ruling on his
sixth year of eligibility.
“Brett was first today,” coach
Steve Spurrier said. “Antonio
Heffner did some good things
today.” He said the No. 1
quarterback could change day to
day depending on the film.
“Noah and Syvelle are lining up
first,” Spurrier said about the wide
receivers.
Continuing to put pressure on
Whiteside and Newton have been
Rice and sophomore Travis Lee.
Rice made a leaping catch in the
third-and-10 drills.
“Just looking over there, to see
how Brent is going, it gives me the
idea and the thought in my head,”
Newton said about switching to
receiver. Newton showed he still
remembers how to play wide
receiver with tight routes and
catches in practice.
♦ Please see SPRING, page 14
KATIE KIRKLAND/THE GAMECOCK
Freshman pitcher Wynn Pelzer struggled early on against Brown on
Tuesday, but the USC bats thrived late and pulled out a 7-2 victory.
baseball rallies late
to pull past Brown
By JASON SCHNEIDER
FOR THE GAMECOCK
Coming into Tuesday, it was no
secret the USC baseball team needed
a pick-me-up. After dropping last
weekend’s three-game series against
Florida, 2-1, the Gamecocks were
left with a 2-4 SEC record.
The necessary spirit-lifter came
Tuesday night, as the Gamecocks
defeated a 4-9 Brown squad, 7-2.
It did not initially appear the
Gamecocks would be leaving Sarge
Frye field on a pleasant note, as
Brown started off hot.
Gamecock freshman Wynn
Pelzer looked shaky during his stay
on the mound, and Brown was
able to capitalize.
In the first Inning, Brown
senior Bobby Wiginton had a base
hit to left, followed by another to
right from senior Matt Kuder,
advancing Wiginton to third.
Pelzer proceeded to walk
sophomore Eric Larson, loading
the bases for Brown’s leader in
RBIs, junior Danny Hughes.
As he did on 44 occasions last
season, Hughes recorded an RBI
and the game’s first run. Pelzer was
then able to settle down, fanning
the next two Bears to get out of a
bases-juiced jam.
In the Gamecocks’ half of the
first, the first three batters looked
like statues, as juniors Chris Brown
and Steven Tolleson went down
looking. The meat of that stare
sandwich was a routine 4-3 ground
out by junior Michael Campbell.
In the second inning, it appeared
that Pelzer had settled down for
good, retiring three batters in
succession. The Gamecocks then
threatened in the bottom half but
could not cash in, as they left two
runners stranded on the base path.
Unfortunately for the
Gamecocks, the top of the third
was very much like the top of the
first, as Wiginton hit a double then
advanced to third on a wild pitch.
Kutler then knocked him in on
another single to right. Pelzer then
fanned Hughes and created a statue
of his own, retiring junior Paul
Christian on a backwards “K.”
Pelzer gave up a single to senior
James Lowe, loading the bases
once again. After a somewhat
sporadic performance, sophomore
Jeff Jeffords relieved Pelzer on the
mound.
Jeffords appeared unhittable to
the Bears, allowing only one hit
during his five-inning tenure on
the mound.
The Gamecocks’ offense was
just as stagnant as Brown’s until
the sixth inning. The bats finally
started springing to life as senior
Steve Pearce {rounded out a one
run round-tripper to left.
USC then tied the game in the
seventh, as sophomore Ryan
Mahoney reached home on a
sacrifice fly from Brown. The
Gamecocks failed to take the lead,
though, leaving two runners on base.
Jeffords struck out the first two
batters he faced in the top of the
eighth, but was then replaced by
junior Brent Marsh. Marsh walked
Christian and, after a Tolleson
error at short, Christian was able to
get into scoring position.
But the threat was quickly quelled,
as Marsh was able to force a dribbler
from sophomore Bryan Tews.
The Gamecocks faced the
challenge of a tie in the bottom of
the eighth, and they rose to it
without wavering. The Gamecocks
started the scoring early and
continued it often in the inning. By
the time the dust had settled, USC
had scurried to five runs on five hits,
and Brown could not catch up in
the ninth.
Marsh recorded his first win of
the season for the Gamecocks, as
junior James Cramphin picked up
the loss for the Bears.
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