University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics
Georgia
Davis Leads Upstate Cause At Georgia, Spartans Fall To Bulldogs
11/14/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 14, 2008
Athens, Ga. - USC Upstate cut the Georgia lead to four points early in the second half, but the Bulldogs answered with a run that the Spartans could not answer as Georgia took a 72-48 win in the season opener for both teams Friday night in Stageman Coliseum.
Upstate fell to 0-1 on the year and will travel to No. 9 Notre Dame Sunday night for a 7:30 start in the Joyce Center. Georgia improved to 1-0.
Bobby Davis finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Upstate cause. Nick Schneiders added 10 rebounds and three blocked shots to go along with five points. Carter Cook added 11 points for the Spartans.
"From our perspective, I thought we competed for 40 minutes," said Upstate head coach Eddie Payne. "We had a lot of young players out there. You don't have to be a basketball expert to see that young people are going to make the mistakes they make. But, we cut down on the mistakes and turnovers in the second half and competed. I think you will see our team improve more than what generally happens because of the schedule we play."
Georgia took a nine-point lead into halftime, but Upstate came out determined to cut into the lead in the second half. Trailing by 10 with 18:15 to play in the game, Cook was fouled while taking a three-pointer. He connected on the trifecta and converted the free throw to cut the Bulldog lead to six, 30-24, with 17:52 to play. After an offensive foul, Cook connected on a mid-range jumper to cut the Georgia lead to four, 30-26, with 17:03 to play.
Georgia answered with nine straight points to increase the lead to 13 and the lead would not fall below 10 the rest of the way as the Bulldogs went on for the win. Mezie Uzochhukwu sank a jumper to cut the Georgia lead to 11 with 13:03 to play, but the Bulldogs pushed the lead to 20 points with 8:31 remaining.
Upstate gave Georgia all it could handle in the first half. Georgia never held a lead of more than six points until late in the half. Coincidentally, it was when Upstate got within four, 16-12, with 6:08 to play in the half when the Bulldogs went on an 8-0 run open a 24-12 lead with 3:53 remaining before the intermission. Upstate battled back to cut the lead to nine at the half.
Upstate out-rebounded Georgia 40-31 for the game. Georgia finished the game shooting 43.1 percent from the field. Upstate held the Bulldogs to 22.2 percent shooting from the three-point arc. The Spartans finished the game shooting 37.3 percent from the field, connecting on 19-of-51 shots from the field.
One of the main differences in the game that allowed Georgia to make its runs was the fact that Upstate committed 29 turnovers. The Bulldogs scored 12 points off Spartan turnovers which obviously took scoring opportunities away from the Upstate offense.
Upstate got solid contributions from its freshmen players. Cook led the newcomers with 11 points and an assist. De'Marion Gordon added eight points, five rebounds and two assists in 18 minutes. Chalmers Rogers gave the Spartans key minutes down low and finished with two points and three boards.
"Carter (Cook) had some moments, De'Marion (Gordon) had some moments and Chalmers (Rogers) gave us some good minutes," said Payne. "I like our young guys. The only problem is they are young and are going to make mistakes. But, they will get better and they did some good things tonight."
Zac Swansey and Travis Leslie each had 11 points to lead Georgia. Terrance Woodbury and Ricky McPhee added 10 for the Bulldogs.
