Spartans End Regular Season With Victory

Thursday night, the race for the 7 seed in the Big South Conference Tournament took an unexpected turn to set up a dramatic final Saturday of the regular season. Charleston Southern, who USC Upstate has been tied with for the auto bye to next Friday’s quarterfinals – holding the tie breaker thanks to a head-to-head sweep of the Buccaneers, upset the Winthrop Eagles while the Spartans fell 71-59 to Radford in a game where they were without star guard Karmani Gregory (turf toe). That put the Bucs ahead, meaning that Saturday’s senior day season finale with Gardner-Webb – a team that beat Upstate on a last-second layup 67-65 back on January 23rd, would have huge implications.

A Spartan victory over the Runnin’ Bulldogs would be needed either way. But, Charleston Southern’s battle with UNC Asheville would be just as big of a variable. A CSU win paired with an Upstate win would keep the Bucs in the 7 seed while a Buccaneer loss and a win for the good guys would put the Spartans back in front. Anything short of a win for Upstate would make the CSU result irrelevant.

The contest got off to a slow start for Upstate, with Gardner-Webb jumping out to a quick 5-0 lead. But, things finally got into gear when Breylin Garcia hit a jumper at the 17:56 mark, sparking a personal 8-0 run to make for an 8-7 lead at the first media timeout. Over the next 12 minutes the Spartans held serve, building as big of a lead as 11 thanks to 9 points off turnovers and outscoring the Runnin’ Bulldogs 24-8 in the paint. But, that lead diminished significantly after the under-4 break when the Spartans went cold for 3:34, allowing Gardner-Webb to go on a 6-0 burst before Karmani Gregory broke it with his first points of the game on a layup with just under 30 ticks to play, making for a 31-24 lead at the intermission.

The 2nd half looked to be going all Upstate’s way out of the gate. Karmani Gregory and Carmelo Adkins got going with 7 points a piece over the first 10 minutes. But, the Runnin’ Bulldogs were once again able to keep things close, hitting on 3 of 6 attempts from beyond the arch ahead of the under 12 break to cut the lead to 49-43. That would be the closest that the game would ever get as from there the trio of Gregory, Adkins, and Bendinger took over.

Karmani finished with 20 of his team-high 22 points in the half while Adkins added 6 more (pushing his game total to 13) and Bendinger tallied 9 second half points (giving him 15)  to help propel the Spartans to a 71-61 victory to fulfill their end of the requirements to take the 7 seed. Thirteen Gardner-Webb turnovers led to 15 points for USC Upstate, who also out-dueled the Bulldogs in the paint 48-34.

“I felt that we competed hard today. We had some mistakes, but you are always going to make a few. Our defense got better until we got up 64-49 and gave up 4 consecutive driving layups in transition that they didn’t even have to work for. Our guys did compose themselves well when Gardner-Webb made a run in the 2nd half and it got to 49-43 on three consecutive 3’s. We did not lose our minds, stayed with it, and kept fighting. And that is what college basketball is. If we keep doing that, we will survive and advance starting next week in Johnson City.”

Saturday’s win over Gardner-Webb also marked the last games at the Hodge Center for seniors Isaiah Skinner and Breylin Garcia, both of whom have made remarkable contributions to USC Upstate over the last 2 years.

“I can’t thank these 2 guys enough”, said Richter. “They came to me two years ago, knowing nothing about Spartanburg – one is from the Dominican Republic and the other from California. About as far away from Spartanburg, South Carolina as you can be. And they trusted me with their careers for 2 more years.”

“They have done a great job of having internal leadership in our locker room”, Richter later added of their contributions on and off the court to the program. “The combination of the 2 of them has been terrific for our program. They have unbelievable character. They have made some big baskets for us here in Spartanburg, but they have also done so much more than just that or putting on practice jerseys and going to work. You want to win a lot of games as a coach, but you also want to teach life lessons so that when your players get into the real world, they can take what you’ve taught them and put it to use and be successful when they do. I cannot thank them enough and I want them to know just how thankful I am for them coming here today.”

Both Garcia and Skinner reflected that gratitude as they summarized their experiences playing for Richter and being part of the rebirth of the program and the community at USC Upstate over the last two years.

“He {Richter} always gives you some crap”, Skinner said in a chuckle. “But he is just doing his job and trying to make you better. That is the best part of this experience was trying to get better everyday. Being here at the Hodge, the energy is great. I always felt supported even though my family is 2,000 miles away. The crowd in The Hodge was always here for me and it was always fun and an overall blessing to get to play in front of them.”

“I am feeling just as blessed”, said Garcia. “I came here with a purpose. I wanted to be near a coach that will be a leader and bring big energy. Coach Marty did that and taught me how to grow and he and his staff make you feel good. I am far from home, I have no family here. My good experience is that I feel like I have a family here. When I committed here last year, I already felt like Upstate was home.”

While the door closes on the regular season, the old cliche rings true – there are multiple seasons in a year for a sports team. The preseason/offseason, the non-conference season, the conference slate, and the postseason. USC Upstate has made the most of the 2nd half of their “third season” (the conference schedule), playing what is without a doubt their peak as a team, and entering the postseason conference tournament that is all about surviving and advancing, that is a huge key. With the 92-75 Charleston Southern win over UNC Asheville will have to face off against Gardner-Webb one more time in the Big South Tournament play-in game this Wednesday night in the most high-stakes game they have played all year.

“Team win”, said Skinner when asked about the key takeaway from the regular season that can help them in the tournament. “That is what we did tonight, and if we want to survive and advance, we have to continue to do that. We have to continue to make the right plays when it matters and get the stops we need. I think being a connected group, I am confident we will get the job done.”

Breylin Garcia shared in that thought, saying “Being connected as a group and playing really hard. We have to do it every single day. We won today, but what about the next day? Today we played hard, but they are gonna play harder next time. I know they are coming for us. But we are going to push back.”

With the regular season in the rearview, the attention is turned to this coming Wednesday night up at Freedom Hall Civic Center in Johnson City, Tennessee, where the Spartans will once again face the Runnin’ Bulldogs in a rematch with a quarterfinal berth against #1-seeded High Point on Friday on the line.

“We do have to survive and advance”, Richter reiterated in closing. “Breylin and Isaiah are exactly right. Today, we won because we were connected as a group. Can we be connected again on Wednesday with the season on the line? If we do, we will survive and get to play again on Friday night. But, we have to take it one day at a time. You are only guaranteed one game and you have to give everything to that one game. I know these 2 guys will and they will get their team mates to do the exact same thing.”

Tip off for the winner-take-all rubber match between Upstate and Gardner-Webb is set for 7:30 on Wednesday night.