Time to Start Paying Attention in Columbia

Maybe it was the Columbia angle. No. 1 Kansas lost in overtime in Columbia, Mo. No. 3 Kentucky lost in overtime in Columbia, S.C.

But BJ McKie wasn’t having any angles, and he didn’t see anything special in his play or in No. 19 South Carolina’s victory, even if the Gamecocks came from five points behind late in regulation Tuesday night and beat the Wildcats, 84-79.

“That’s all just college basketball,” said McKie, who scored eight of his 22 points in overtime. “Don’t get rattled if you’re up 15 or down 11. Just keep on playing like the game is even.”

And that’s what it was after 40 minutes, when Larry Davis made a three-point basket and Melvin Watson a driving layup to tie a game that the Wildcats led, 74-69, with a minute left after trailing for much of the second half.

“This team is awfully resilient,” South Carolina Coach Eddie Fogler said. “They have the ability to keep pecking away and battling.”

The Gamecocks, 16-5 overall and 10-0 in the Southeastern Conference, did the same at Florida, trailing by 16 points in the second half before winning by one; at Alabama, up 12, then down one before a two-point victory; and at Vanderbilt, where South Carolina overcame a seven-point lead late to win.

One school of thought has it that the Gamecocks are being overlooked, despite being unbeaten in the SEC.

Another school has it that they are lucky.

Fogler’s school?

“Maybe I ought to buy a lottery ticket,” he said.

The victory was the 11th in a row for South Carolina and gave the Gamecocks a two-game lead over Kentucky (20-3, 8-2) in the SEC’s Eastern Division.

Ron Mercer, who scored 18 points, missed a final shot in regulation for Kentucky, which was playing without injured starters Derek Anderson and Jared Prickett.

No. 10 Clemson 69, Western Kentucky 55--Greg Buckner scored 11 of his 17 points in the second half for the Tigers, who pulled away from Western Kentucky at Clemson, S.C.

Buckner had six points in a 12-0 run for the Tigers (18-4), who had lost three of their last four games.

Tony Lovan scored 15 points to lead the Hilltoppers (10-10), who have won only once in 16 games against Atlantic Coast Conference teams.

No. 16 Villanova 81, West Virginia 70--Playing their last game at duPont Pavilion in suburban Philadelphia, where they were 37-5 over their careers, Wildcat seniors Alvin Williams, Jason Lawson and Chuck Kornegay combined for 48 points in a Big East victory over West Virginia (13-6, 7-5).

Kornegay went scoreless in the first half and then scored the first six points of a 15-2 run by Villanova (17-5, 8-4) that turned a six-point deficit into a seven-point lead.

No. 25 Iowa 75, No. 24 Indiana 67--Andre Woolridge scored 18 points for the Hawkeyes (16-5, 7-2), who won a Big Ten game at Iowa City and extended Indiana’s losing streak to three games.

The Hoosiers (17-7, 4-6) last lost three times in a row in the 1989-90 season.

OTHER GAMES

Scoonie Penn snapped a terrible shooting slump by scoring a season-high 25 points for Boston College (14-6, 8-4), which halted a three-game Big East losing streak with a 79-71 victory over Syracuse (13-9, 4-7) at Newton, Mass. . . . Admore White made four free throws in the final 20 seconds for Notre Dame (10-9, 4-7) in a 75-70 Big East victory over St. John’s (9-11, 4-8) at South Bend, Ind. . . . Tim Winn and Shandue McNeill combined for 47 points for St. Bonaventure (11-7, 4-5) in a 73-55 win over Temple (12-7, 5-4) in an Atlantic-10 game in Olean, N.Y., in which Owl assistant Dean Demopolous received a double-technical foul in the second half and was ejected. . . . Danny Moore scored 25 points for Southwest Missouri State (17-5, 7-4) in an 80-70 victory over Northern Iowa (11-8, 7-5) in a Missouri Valley Conference game in Cedar Falls, Iowa. . . . North Carolina-Charlotte (15-6, 6-3) got 17 points from Sean Colson and overcame shooting 16% in the first half to beat DePaul (3-17, 1-8), which started four freshmen and a sophomore in a Conference USA game in Rosemont, Ill. . . . Corey Brewer scored the final five points for Oklahoma (13-6, 5-4), which overcame a 12-point second-half deficit for a 62-55 victory over Texas A&M; (8-11, 2-7) in a Big 12 game in Norman, Okla.

College Basketball Notes

George Scholz, who had winning records in his first two seasons at Jacksonville University but was 3-17 this season, was fired.