South Carolina opened the Brooklyn Hoops Holiday Invitational Sunday night as they took down Holy Cross, 81-49.
The backcourt of PJ Dozier, Duane Notice and Sindarius Thornwell had another outstanding game as the three combined to score half of the Gamecocks points with 41. It was a slow start for the team but as the first half ended, the Gamecocks began to run away with the lead with some help from the bench.
Slow start doesn’t last long
Thornwell got things started when he opened the game with a three from the corner. Holy Cross came through shortly after to grab a 4-3 lead, but that lasted just 61 seconds and would be their only lead of the game.
The Gamecocks began to pull away as the clock ran down in the first half. After 20 minutes of play, the Gamecocks led 44-32 yet, as the second half started the Gamecocks picked up their play and never looked back.
The team really clicked in the second half, which head coach Frank Martin noted.
“We’re passing the ball,” Martin said. “When you pass the ball and the court spacing is pretty good and guys play with confidence the ball goes in the basket.”
South Carolina had 17 assists on 27 baskets in the win, with seven of them coming in the second half.
Bench players come through
With the amount of fouls that the team tallied, many bench players had to step up and play more minutes than usual. Seeing his first action of the year was freshman Rakym Felder. He surprised many when he came into the game during the first half and played 14 minutes. He scored eight points, with his first basket being a three.
Also coming in big off the bench was Justin McKie, who scored ten points and had one rebound.
“I feel pretty comfortable with about eight of our guys, that they’re going to be pretty consistent on how they go about their business every day,” Martin said. “The rest of those guys they have to continue to grow to be consistent and I have to figure out a way to utilize them better.”
Too many fouls
The Gamecocks recorded 17 fouls in the game, while Holy Cross followed closely with 16. South Carolina did improve from their previous game, though, where they committed 20 fouls.
Chris Silva and Maik Kotsar had four and three fouls, respectively, which became dangerous territory for the Gamecocks.
“We got to figure out a way to keep Maik [Kotsar] and Chris [Silva] in the game,” Martin said on the fouls in Sunday’s game. “They can’t go in and play three minutes and each commit two fouls. They're our starting center and starting power forward for a reason, we need to figure out a way to keep them on the court.”
South Carolina was at least able to capitalize on the Crusaders’ fouls as they went 15-16 on free throws.
Next Up
The Gamecocks will continue this portion of the Brooklyn Hoops Holiday Invitational when they host Monmouth on Tuesday. The Gamecocks will look to continue their two-game win streak, while Monmouth is coming off of a win in their first game.