Odom guides South Carolina against familiar foe

LAHAINA, Hawaii -- South Carolina basketball coach Dave Odom, a former assistant coach for the No. 1-ranked Virginia team that was upset by Chaminade in 1982, will not have to worry about another dramatic loss to the NAIA school this time around. Odom's Gamecocks, in control throughout most of the contest, survived a late-game comeback to beat the Silverswords 74-61 in the opening game of the EA Sports Maui Invitational.

With the victory, South Carolina (1-0) moves on to the semifinals of the tourney to face Duke at 7 p.m. EST, while Chaminade (0-1) will meet Seton Hall in the consolation bracket at 2 p.m. today.

Senior shooting guard Jamel Bradley, serving as South Carolina's sixth man after starting last season, led the Gamecocks with 17 points, including 6-of-6 shooting from the free throw line. Fellow perimeter player Aaron Lucas, who experienced cramps in his right thigh and left the game with less than four minutes remaining, chipped in with 14 points and five assists.

Overall, Odom was happy with the play of his team, but was concerned with South Carolina's lapse midway through the second half that allowed Chaminade to cut its deficit to seven points after trailing by 22 only minutes into the second stanza.

"We played the game with the intent on both sides of the ball that I hoped we would. I thought we were very aggressive defensively; I thought we were aggressive offensively, and I was very pleased with the way we shut down their attack," Odom said. "For the first six or seven minutes of the second half we were OK, and then we just opened the floodgates all of the sudden... by proxy we just decided that we weren't going to rebound the ball."

The Gamecocks' inability to clean up the boards resulted in a 14-1 Silversword run over a four-minute period that evaporated South Carolina's lead to 66-59 with 1:09 remaining in the contest. Odom abruptly called a timeout to settle his team down, and the result was eight straight free throws made by the Gamecocks during the rest of the contest which secured the victory.

"One of the things we talked about on Oct. 13 when we started was the term Ofinish it,'" Odom said. "No matter what we're doing, whether it's a shooting drill, a defensive drill or a practice or a game, just finish it. That's been one of the things with this team that people have looked at, and said, OThey do this, they do that, but they can't finish the game.' We did finish the game. It got down to [seven] at one time, and we ended up with a 13-pointer there, so I feel very good about that."

Odom also felt good about the way his team started the contest, and for good reason. From the opening tipoff at the Lahaina Civic Center, the Gamecocks led, scoring the first two points of the contest and never looking back. South Carolina opened up an early 11-2 lead with 14:29 left in the first half that grew to a 40-23 advantage by halftime.