Gamecocks wear down La Salle in second half
CHARLESTON, S.C. - La Salle looked every bit the equal of South Carolina, but an early second-half surge by the Gamecocks proved too much for the Explorers to overcome.
With La Salle trailing by two at halftime, South Carolina opened the second half last night with a 13-4 run and went on to beat the Explorers, 78-68, in the first round of the Charleston Classic at the Carolina First Center.
"I thought we played a great first 19 minutes of the game," La Salle coach John Giannini said. "The second half really got away from us. There wasn't a lot positive in the second half. Give South Carolina credit. Looking at them on tape, they look every bit of an NCAA Tournament team. That's the kind of team that we need to be. We were not able to compete with them in the second half. It was a good measuring stick of where we are and what we need to do."
Rodney Green led the Explorers with 23 points. Jerrell Williams (11 points) was the other La Salle player in double figures.
In today's second round, La Salle (1-1) will play Davidson (0-2) at 7 p.m. South Carolina (3-0) will play South Florida (3-0) at 9:30 p.m. with the winner advancing to Sunday's championship game.
"What we told our team after the game is that it's a tournament filled with a lot of really good programs," Giannini said. "Davidson wins 25-plus games every year. I know Stephen Curry is gone, but that's still a very good team. They pose a lot of challenges for us. That's why we didn't beat ourselves up immediately after the game because we have to get ready to go up against a high-quality program tomorrow."
Giannini pointed to opening minutes of the second half as the key to the game against South Carolina.
"We had a few turnovers at the start of the second half, the lead went from two to six, and I think those two turnovers at the start of th second half were important," he said. "They kind of set a bad tone. It was a bad second half, and it started with those two plays."
After South Carolina's early second-half surge, the Explorers battled back to cut the lead to six. But La Salle hit another dry spell offensively and the Gamecocks pulled away. They led by as many 20 points before La Salle rallied in the closing minutes.
Dominique Archie scored 17 points to lead five players in double figures for South Carolina.
La Salle finished with 17 turnovers, 10 of which came in the second half.
The first half was tight throughout, with La Salle leading most of the way until the Gamecocks closed with a late run.
The Explorers led, 34-27, with 3:45 to play, but South Carolina closed with a 9-2 run to lead 38-36 at the half.
"We just came out flat in the second half," Green said. "We came out too flat and they outhustled us. We just couldn't get stops when we needed to."
