Jan. 17, 2009

Box Score

Spartanburg, S.C. - USC Upstate placed four players in double figures and Nick Schneiders tied a career-high with five blocked shots, but Belmont, behind the play of Alex Renfroe and Jon House, rallied to take a 73-69 victory over Upstate Saturday afternoon in A-Sun men's basketball action in the Hodge Center.

Belmont improved to 10-6 overall and 6-1 in the A-Sun. The 6-1 record elevates the Bruins into a first-place tie with Jacksonville, though the Dolphins play later Saturday afternoon in an attempt to stay atop the league standings. Upstate fell to 2-14 overall and 1-6 in the conference. The Spartans play host to Lipscomb Monday afternoon in a special 2:00 p.m. start time on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

It looked for most of the game that Upstate was set to pull off the upset, but Belmont rallied midway through the second half to take its first lead of the game and held off the Spartans for the win.

"We didn't take care of the ball and we forced things," said Upstate head coach Eddie Payne. "The concept of making the easy play is something we have not grasped yet. You need to make the easy pass and make the defense play. In spite of our mistakes, it was one of the better games that we have played and we could have, should have won the game."

With the game tied at 38-38, Upstate went on an 8-0 run keyed by five-straight points by De'Marion Gordon and a three-pointer from Josh Chavis. Trailing by eight with 13:09 to play, Belmont erased the deficit and took its first lead of the game three minutes later. Keaton Belcher got things going with a layup and Andy Wicke added a jumper as the Bruins got within four, 46-42. Nick Schneiders converted a pair of free throws to give Upstate a six-point lead, but Matthew Dotson hit a three-pointer and Renfroe converted a layup and dunk to give the Bruins their first lead of the game, 49-48, with 10:12 to play.

Upstate quickly grabbed the lead back on Schneiders' dunk and Mezie Uzochukwu's jumper pushed the lead to three. Bobby Davis added two free throws to increase the Spartan advantage to five as Upstate answered the Belmont run. Belmont, though, was not done and whittled away at the lead until House's two free throws with 4:45 to play in the game gave the Bruins a 60-59 lead. It marked the second lead of the game for Belmont and the Bruins would not trail again. Belmont pushed the lead to four points on three occasions over the next three minutes.

Upstate attempted to battle back into the game late, but the Spartans missed five shots and two free throws in the final four minutes, and committed a turnover with 53 seconds to play and down four points which sealed the Belmont win. Gordon added a pair of layups in the final 10 seconds, but could not get Upstate any closer than four points.

A key play in the game came with 1:41 to play. Belmont had possession of the ball and a 67-65 lead. Upstate played tough defense and forced Belcher to take a desperation 35-foot three-pointer as the shot clock wound down. The ball clanged off the backboard and rim, but Renfroe jumped over Gordon for the offensive rebound and was fouled on the play. Instead of getting the defensive rebound and having an opportunity to cut into the Bruin lead, Upstate watched the lead grow to four points on Renfroe's two free throws.

The story of the game could very well be two key statistical lines. One, Belmont forced Upstate into 25 turnovers and scored 31 points off Spartan miscues for the game. In addition, the Bruins grabbed 16 offensive rebounds and scored 17 second-chance points. In fact, it was the Bruins' 18 points off turnovers in the first half that kept Belmont in the game.

Upstate opened the game with a three-pointer from Josh Chavis and scored the first seven points. The Spartans opened a 10-point advantage, 25-15, with 6:00 to play before halftime. The lead grew to 12 points on a pair of free throws from Carter Cook with 3:07 to play. However, the Spartans committed three turnovers the rest of the half and Belmont was able to cut the deficit by seven points to 36-31 at halftime. House had back-to-back three-pointers to key the Bruin run. Belmont scored the first five points of the second half to tie the game at 36-36, but Upstate battled back to take an eight-point lead, 46-38, with 13:09 to play, setting up the rest of the game.

Upstate turned in its best offensive outing of the season. The Spartans hit 55 percent of their shots from the field and were a respectable 32 percent from behind the three-point arc. Upstate's defense also did a pretty good job of limiting Belmont. The Bruins shot just 38 percent from the field. Belmont entered the game as one of the top three-point shooting teams in the country while hitting 37.9 percent from the arc. Upstate, though, held Belmont to 29 percent from three-point land.

"I told the team that I thought, defensively, we made a big improvement," said Payne. "We played well enough on defense to win the game. We did well defending the three, but we didn't keep them off the offensive glass. They had too many second-chance opportunities."

Belmont relied on the play of Renfroe and House to pick up the win. Renfroe finished with a game-high 24 points to go with 10 rebounds, six assists and four steals. House added 20 points and six boards, while Dotson chipped in with 10 points.

Schneiders led Upstate with 16 points and seven rebounds. He tied a career-high with five blocked shots and caused the Belmont interior players to alter their shots and approach in the post. The Spartans blocked nine shots on the day. Gordon added 13 points off the bench, while Davis and Chavis added 11 points apiece. Davis also totaled seven boards, four assists, two blocked shots and two steals while taking just six shots in the game.