SPARTANBURG, S.C. – USC Upstate celebrated the induction of its 2023 Hall Of Fame class on Saturday, with the 1981-82 USC-Spartanburg Rifles NAIA National Championship men’s basketball team coached by the late Jerry Waters being the headliners.
One could say the Spartans made that group proud with the way they played against UNC Asheville, which sat atop the Big South Conference standings entering the contest. It was quite the battle between the two sides, but a second half surge propelled USC Upstate to a 76-70 victory over the Bulldogs.
A Drew Pember layup put Asheville up by a point, but a Justin Bailey layup started a 7-0 burst for the Spartans over a two-plus minute span that resulted in a 15-8 Spartan lead at the 13:27 mark of the opening frame. During that stretch, Trae Broadnax and Mysta Goodloe each made a shot from close range, while Bailey hit Ahmir Langlais in stride on a fast break for a one-handed dunk.
The Bulldogs answered with a 12-0 run of their own spanning the next four minutes, as Pember scored nine during the stretch along with an Alex Caldwell 3-pointer. On the ensuing Spartan possession, Goodloe found Bailey in the right corner for a triple, leading to a 10-2 Upstate run that evolved into a seven-point Spartan lead with over a minute left in the frame.
“It was a great team win,” said USC Upstate head coach Dave Dickerson. “We needed something like this in (the Hodge Center) and our guys hung in there. We turned the ball over too much, but other than that, I thought our execution was really good throughout the game. Our guys did a good job of knowing their personnel, playing to our strengths, and taking away their strengths. Our toughness and connection today was really good.”
Over the first six minutes and 14 seconds of the second stanza, it felt like neither team could miss a shot as they combined for 33 points in that span. Asheville reclaimed a 36-35 lead on a Caleb Burgess layup with 17:07 remaining, only to see the Spartans answer with a Khydarius Smith hook shot 15 seconds later. That proved to be the last time that the Spartans trailed in the contest. Just over three minutes later, Bailey converted a 4-point play that staked Upstate to a 48-41 advantage.
In the latter stages of the contest, Asheville used a 7-0 burst that pulled the Bulldogs within a four point margin with 3:29 to play. Nearly two minutes later, Fletcher Abee splashed a three and cut the Spartan lead down to 65-62 with 1:36 remaining.
Following the timeout, Jordan Gainey knocked down a triple that reestablished a six-point Upstate advantage with a little over 60 seconds left. Gainey also knocked down all six of his free throw attempts down the stretch to help secure the win.
The Spartans did their part controlling the boards, largely due to the efforts of Smith and Langlais. The duo combined to pull in 13 of the 36 Spartan rebounds for the game, winning that battle by 10 against the Bulldogs. Upstate also tallied 12 boards on the offensive end.
“Ahmir is a really good rebounder,” Dickerson stated. “He did that in practice (on Friday), where he got every rebound, so today, we went to him early. Seny (N’Diaye) didn’t have it today, so Ahmir and Khy had to be our post anchors. Ahmir played well in the first half, which was big time. Khy was the spark we needed, he scored some big buckets for us.”
In a contest that featured 11 lead changes and two deadlocks, Upstate made 27 of 54 shots from the floor, which featured a 15-for-26 clip in the second stanza. Asheville knocked down 25 of its 56 shot attempts in the game. The Spartans also picked up 26 points from their bench, while the Bulldogs had 12. Each team also tallied 32 points in the paint.
Four Spartans finished in double figures for the first time since January 4 in a 65-60 road win at Radford. Gainey paced Upstate with a team-high 19 points, along with 14 points apiece from Bailey and Broadnax, and Smith with 13. Pember finished with a game-high 29 points and notched eight boards for UNC Asheville, followed by Burgess with 10 points.
Both teams will host conference games on Wednesday as USC Upstate (10-13, 5-7 Big South) collides with Charleston Southern at 7 p.m., while UNC Asheville (18-7, 10-2) faces off against Winthrop 6:30 p.m.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.