Second half rebounds lead South Carolina to victory over Bucs
In a scrappy battle against Charleston Southern, the Gamecocks’ second half improvements led them to a 73-69 victory. However, the too close for comfort victory still leaves improvements for South Carolina as its continue on in its season.
Charleston Southern showed up with a strong defense that was greater than many Gamecocks expected. The Bucs had seven blocks with some leading to turnovers. Not playing a game together as a team for a week showed. South Carolina was only able to make 11 rebounds in the first half.
“It was on the board as a thing that I thought we could have success at, was offensive rebounding so you wouldn’t have known that by the first half but by the second half you would have,” head coach Lamont Paris said. “That was a focal point for us. When the shot got up I wanted three guys going really hard to the glass and then get back and then you do that till your tongue is hanging on the ground.”
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Forward BJ Mack led the charge for the Gamecocks in a back and forth first half. Mack put up a team high 10 points in the first half and 16 points total with four rebounds. The Gamecocks struggled in the first half not with ball possession, but with making shots as well.
“Our pursuit in it was the big thing,” Mack said. “We made an emphasis going into the game of trying to dominate them on the boards. So that was one of the challenges for us, and we just didn’t get the job done in the first half. But second half, we made an effort to it.”
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The momentum in the second half shifted for the Gamecocks. While they still weren’t able to run away with the lead they, made the necessary improvements to get a victory. Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk played a crucial role in the depth of defense on South Carolina’s bench ending the game with four rebounds.
“I’ll tell you this, he had a really past couple days of practice,” Paris said. “We need to rely on him being a high energy guy, I think that’s his best trait and he’s for the team no matter what. He just was energetic, a couple of good rebounds and he drew an offensive foul on one of the rebounds, its just who’s going to do what consistently.”
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In the second half, the Gamecocks gained their ground and totaled 28 rebounds. The small adjustments made at half time gave South Carolina the confidence and the push they needed. With under a minute left, Ta’Lon Cooper capitalized by rebounding a missed shot by BJ Mack to stop the Bucs.
“Momentum is very powerful in anything that you do and in any sport for sure,” Paris said. “If we had not rebounded that miss by BJ, the chances of momentum starting to shift at that point in the game is much more likely.”
