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Gamecocks hold off 'Cuse in NIT semifinal battle
By RICK FREEMAN
AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK (AP) � Aaron Lucas scored a season-high 20 points to lead South
Carolina to a 66-59 victory over Syracuse in an NIT semifinal round game
Tuesday night.
The Gamecocks will play Memphis, which beat Temple 78-77 in the first
semifinal, in Thursday's title game.
With a little more than a minute to play, Syracuse had an opportunity to
close within two points when DeShaun Williams had his inbounds pass
intercepted by Tony Kitchings.
Kitchings and Jamel Bradley each scored 13 points. Bradley, who holds the
South Carolina school record for 3-pointers made, scored 12 of his points on
3-pointers. The Gamecocks shot 50 percent from beyond the arc.
Conspicuously absent from the game's closing minutes was Syracuse's
Preston Shumpert. The senior, who scored 11 first-half points on 3-for-10
shooting, took over in the second half.
Kueth Duany was the only other Syracuse player in double digits,
finishing with 15 points and seven rebounds. No other Syracuse player had
more than Williams' five points.
With 3:44 remaining, the Orangemen trailed 57-55, and Shumpert had scored
more than half his team's points, with 28.
He finished with that total, going scoreless in the final 4:41.
The Orangemen missed a chance to become the first team to win the
preseason and postseason NITs in the same year. They will play Temple for
third place Thursday night.
For the Gamecocks, this is new ground. But first-year coach Dave Odom has
been here before.
South Carolina has never been past the quarterfinal round of any national
tournament. Odom, however, won the NIT two years ago, when he coached Wake
Forest.
Syracuse was in control early. The Orangemen led by seven early in the
first half, and took a 22-16 lead 5:33 before halftime when Duany made a
3-pointer.
South Carolina tied it at 22, but watched Shumpert finish the half with
five unanswered points.
Both Syracuse and South Carolina brought their home white uniforms, and
it wasn't discovered until the teams took the floor for pregame warmups.
Syracuse was supposed to be wearing its road orange uniforms, and a
student manager was dispatched to get them. Syracuse switched to road
jerseys at the first media timeout and came out for the second half wearing
its full road uniforms.
Copyright 2001
Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
02/23/2007 10:51:06 AM
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