The University of Alabama Crimson Tide come from 18 points down to defeat the University of South Carolina basketball team by the score of 68-63 in the first round of the SEC tournament in Nashville.
The loss drops Carolina to 15-16 on the season and all but eliminates them from any hope of an NIT bid. Plus Coach Darrin Horn is on the record to say that he has no interest in the CBI or CBT, lower tier tournaments, for postseason play. So it seems this was the final game of the season for USC.
What a miserable way to end the season but also a testament to the season in some fashion. This season was full of ups and downs.
The game looked like it was a sure thing for Carolina as guard Ramon Galloway hit 2 free throws at the 12:41 mark of the second half to put USC up 52-34. I suppose the gamecocks counted their chickens before they hatched….I know bad example.
Soon after getting a comfortable lead the Gamecocks forgot how to score points and man up on defense thus to allow Alabama to get back in the game. During that absence of offensive ability, the Gamecocks lead dwindled from 18 points to just 8. The USC drought continued, and Alabama kept scoring, taking a 60-59 lead with two minutes to go. The Gamecocks briefly would tie the game 62-62 on a Ramon Galloway three-pointer, but UA closed out the dominant second half performance, outscoring USC 41-25 in the final 20 minutes for the win.
Mikhail Torrance led Alabama in scoring with 17 points. He got help from Justin Knox and JaMychal Green who finished with 16 and 10 points.
Devan Downey finished with 21 points and 8 rebounds in what will likely be his final collegiate game. Raley-Ross and Muldrow, who we mentioned earlier needing to step up, did not bring their best performance. But no blame as this is a shared loss. Anytime you go from an 18 point lead to losing…well it is the team and coaching at fault. As it takes a team approach to lie down and let that happen.
Thanks to Devan for the 2009-2010 season. Sorry your team choked today. The future looks bright for USC basketball but we will not get into that as this loss sucks. Not to mention the USC QB getting arrested.
Terrible Thursday for Gamecock Fans! Where is the re-do button….
