Since January 21st, the USC Upstate Spartans have been as up and down as the weather has been for the residents of the upstate. Two days later, in a night where no other explanation can be found except to say that it was just your opponent’s night, Gardner-Webb picked up their first win of the season against a division I opponent with a layup in the waning seconds after the Spartans had managed to tie the game at 65. Upstate had a shot to at least force overtime, but a turnover killed that, resulting in a 67-65 defeat, extending the ongoing losing streak to three.
Last Thursday night against Longwood, USC Upstate broke the skid with a hard-fought 65-60 win behind the common thread of the last two weeks: Karmani Gregory, who has scored 22 points in two of the last four contests – the exceptions being 16 and 19 respectively in both outings against UNC Asheville.
Coming into Saturday’s return game with Charleston Southern, who the Spartans defeated in overtime 86-81 back on January 14th, both teams were riddled with injuries that could have meant a much different matchup this time. CSU would be without their best shooters while in addition to the season-ending injuries to Nic Book and Chico Johnson, Upstate would be missing two more. Learic Davis, who hurt his shoulder early in the game against Asheville and may return in time for the next game, as well as Jafeth Martinez, who was out on a non-injury related matter. In short, with the depth taking a serious hit, the Spartans would need Karmani to hang some crooked numbers once again to try and complete the season sweep of the Buccaneers.
As the game got going, Gregory was looking good to keep the hot streak going – mostly because for a while, he was the only Spartan able to find the hoop. USC Upstate took an early lead on a hook shot from Carmelo Adkins a minute in and Isaiah Skinner added on with a three on the Spartans’ next possession. Upstate held the point up until the 15:18 mark, when CSU guard Jacob Taylor drained a triple to jump in front 11-9. From that point, the game devolved into a back and forth. There were a total of 15 lead changes by the time the horn sounded to send the game to the half – a story that would be wildly different if not for Karmani Gregory’s contribution.
Until the final minute of the opening stanza, only one other Upstate player had any significant points – Carmelo Adkins with 5. Gregory had notched 18 in the first half before Mason Bendinger finally got some momentum to end the first period with 7. The combination of him and Gregory was enough to make for just a 1-point deficit at the break. But, it goes without saying, someone else would need to score the basketball in order for the Spartans to win if the game was going to continue to be a teeter-totter.
The pendulum swung four more times in the opening four and a half minutes of the 2nd stanza, but at last USC Upstate was able to get a second man in double figures thanks to a 3 for 4 effort in the paint from Adkins in that stretch. By the next media stoppage, Charleston Southern had matched their largest lead of the day after going 4-5 from beyond the arch to answer Upstate, making for a 67-61 lead. The positive is that by that same point, the Spartans had four scorers in double figures, adding Mason Bendinger with 12 and Breylin Garcia at 10.
Out of the break, Upstate finally managed to get some stops and force a few turnovers to keep the Bucs off the scoreboard for nearly 2 minutes. In that stretch, the Spartans put together their best run of the game, going on an 8-0 push behind 4 points a piece from Garcia and Adkins. That helped the Spartans hold a 1 point lead into the under 8 stoppage. Over the next four minute stretch, Upstate built its largest lead of the game at 6, but it was cut to four ahead of the final media timeout. In the end, thanks to a 5-0 CSU run to close out the half, 40 minutes would not be enough to decide this one, going to overtime knotted at 91.
In the extra period, Tyler Smith gave the Spartans the lead with a clutch jumper for three, sparking a 5-0 push that in the end, USC Upstate was able to ride to the win. Mason Bendinger all but sealed the game with a jumper with 40 ticks left on the clock and Gregory made a new career high with a pair of free throws to put Upstate at the century mark for a much-needed 100-94 victory.
“I enjoyed how hard our players competed today. They competed and when you compete at this level like that, you give yourself a chance”, said head coach Marty Richter following the win. “I have to tip my cap to CSU. They were down two of their best players and did a great job of figuring it out. Taylor {Jacob, 24 points} stepped up for them. Hafemeister {Jesse, team-leading 32 points} did a great job. They fought tooth and nail and did a great job on the glass against us. I thought it was a well-played game on both sides, and I’m glad we came out on the good side.”
The fact the Spartans were able to find a way to win this game with injuries stacking against them was also something Richter could not help but acknowledge as one of the key takeaways.
“We were down a couple of guys today. That is part of college basketball when you get into February”, said Richter. “You are going to be down players, and guys stepped up today. I cannot be more proud of the ones that got an opportunity to play more than they normally would and stepped up. Coen Collier stepped up and grabbed four big defensive rebounds when it mattered in the 2nd half. Tyler Smith had his best game of his career at Upstate with 6 assists and a big three for the lead in overtime. We competed and fought for 45 minutes. It wasn’t pretty. We were down 67-61, fought back, and took the lead during a stretch where we have been struggling in games, and I am proud of our guys for doing that.”
Gregory marked his 5th straight game in double figures adding a team-leading 29 points to go with 7 assists, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals.
“In the last five games since I moved him {Gregory} into that main ball handling role and have been bringing Tyler off the bench, Karmani has been terrific”, Coach Richter stated with a tone that says he was just as impressed as the average onlooker with Gregory’s performance.
“He is scoring. Tonight he scored 29 on 17 shot attempts, but in his last 4, he was averaging almost a point and a half per attempt. Then you add in that he is passing the ball. He is not turning the ball over and he is making plays for others. He is so quick and strong as a guard that it is fun to see. I have had a lot of good point guards in my career. He is up there. He is doing what you are supposed to as the team leader and he led us to a win today. He is the leader of the pack. He has come so far from this time last February to now and I can’t imagine what he will do in another 12 months”, Richter later added.
In addition to Gregory’s output, the Spartans had 2 others score over 20 points. Bendinger finished with 25 to go with 6 boards, an assist, a steal, and a blocked shot. Adkins tallied 20 with a rebound, an assist, and a steal. Breylin Garcia ended up with 16 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals while last but certainly not least, in addition to his assists Tyler Smith notched 7 points with a board and 3 swipes.
As if the offensive numbers alone aren’t impressive, they were not even the biggest or most eye-popping stat from the game. USC Upstate forced 17 turnovers that led to a whopping 30 points while giving the ball away just three times – undoubtedly the key that made the difference between victory and defeat with the game on the line.
“Forcing turnovers was huge”, Richter stated. “We emphasized hand activity, passing, and guarding the ball in practice the last two days. We got our hands on balls that created points today. We had defense creating offense. They outrebounded us 18 to 14 on the offensive glass. But we countered that with 17 turnovers and we took care of the ball. That was the difference in this game.”
With the sweep of CSU and the tie breaker over them also in hand, Upstate (11-14, 3-7 Big South) will turn their focus towards a return date at home with the league-leading High Point Panthers, who the Spartans fell to on the road 89-69 after being tied at the under-12 of the 2nd half back on January 17th. There is no doubt that to compete with HPU this week, Upstate will need to replicate what they did on Saturday afternoon.
“If we are going to win on Thursday, Karmani has got to do it again. I’m asking a lot, but I expect a lot when you play for me as a point guard. I am asking him to run the team and score, and he can do that. It’s impressive. I haven’t had a lot of guards that can do that. But I have also got to help my team in some other areas. We will get better this week. That’s what is great about it. We don’t play until Thursday. We will take Super Bowl Sunday off. Monday is a day where we can concentrate on ourselves. Tuesday we can start getting ready for High Point and then lock in on ourselves again. Wednesday is a prep day – gotta be ready to go. But even doing all that, I get to save my guys’ legs an extra day”, said Richter of the layover between games.
Tip off for Thursday night’s white out between the Spartans and Panthers is set for 7:00 PM at the Hodge Center.
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