By Justin Mathis (@J_Math23)
CHARLOTTE — “What just happened?”
Those were the first words spoken by USC Upstate men’s basketball coach Dave Dickerson following Friday afternoon’s Big South Conference tournament quarterfinal. One could definitely understand his reaction after what transpired in the final moments of what turned out to be a shocking finish at Bojangles’ Coliseum
Trailing by two points with eight seconds left, USC Upstate came up with a steal and game-winning shot – a 3-pointer by Jordan Gainey – with one-tenth of a second on the clock to edge the Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs, 77-76.
Following a Bulldog timeout, the Spartans applied full court pressure. The ball deflected off the hands of Floyd Rideau just before teammate Mysta Goodloe corralled the loose ball at the top of the arc. Goodloe quickly found Gainey, who used a pump fake and took one more dribble to his right before launching a triple from the right corner. The shot capped off a game-ending 6-0 run for Upstate.
“Floyd and Mysta did a great job getting the deflection and getting me the ball,” Gainey said. “I just saw two defenders coming on my left. I thought I was going to get (the shot) off right there, but then I saw space in the corner and looked at the clock with three seconds left. I took one dribble, side-stepped, and got all the legs I could into (the shot) to get it off.”
“Give credit to Gardner-Webb,” stated Dickerson. “They were unbelievable today. Our guys just stayed with it. The last five minutes of the game reminds us of the Presbyterian game (on February 22). Floyd Rideau said it while walking into the locker room: ‘Sometimes in March basketball, it’s not about the X’s and O’s. It’s about the Jimmys and Joes.’ We had Jordan Gainey today.”
Prior to that, the Bulldogs had extended their lead to five points with 16 seconds remaining on baskets by Kareem Reid and Anthony Selden, along with two Selden free throws.
“I want to credit Upstate,” Gardner-Webb head coach Tim Craft stated. “They played a great game. I thought it was a great college basketball game for the fans. It was certainly hard (with) the way it ended for us. Gainey made two unbelievable plays there at the end – two huge shots – when we kind of had the game in hand. I was really proud to coach this team and hate to see it end like this for them.”
A couple of minutes earlier, Upstate had a pair of good looks from behind the arc, but neither one fell and allowed the Bulldogs to maintain a three-point advantage with under four minutes to play. Not long after that, Caleb Robinson made a pair of free throws that made it a 70-65 Bulldog lead.
Over the final 3:34 of the contest, the Spartans outscored the Bulldogs, 12-6, which was aided by two free throws apiece by Gainey and Khydarius Smith, and a Goodloe mid-range jumper near the top of the key. Dickerson really liked the resolve that his team showed down the stretch to rally and emerge with the victory.
“This is probably one of the first times this year that we lost our composure,” Dickerson admitted. “But, we got it back and that goes to the maturity of this team. Coming into this game, we were 323rd in Division I basketball game experience. Our composure was really, really good today.”
On the day, both Upstate and Gardner-Webb each knocked down 26 of their 54 shots from the field. The Bulldogs were 19-for-29 from the charity stripe, while the Spartans made 16 of their 19 attempts. Gardner-Webb outrebounded Upstate by a 38-25 margin, while the Spartans tallied 24 points off turnovers and 31 points from their bench.
Four Spartans finished in double figures, led by Gainey with a game-high 25 points. Smith and Trae Broadnax poured in 12 points apiece, while Goodloe finished with 10. Reid scored a team-high 19 points for Gardner-Webb.
With the win, Upstate (16-14) advances to the Big South tournament semifinals, where the Spartans will face UNC Asheville (25-7) at noon on Saturday.
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