Nov. 13, 2003

Final Stats?|? Quotes

Columbia, S.C. – The University of South Carolina men’s basketball team kicked the 2003-04 basketball season in style defeating Inter Hoop 81-62 on Thursday night. The win extended Carolina’s exhibition winning streak to 12 games and the Gamecocks own a 19-2 record in their last 21 exhibition games. Inter Hoop came into the game after a 85-76 loss to the number five ranked Missouri Tigers on Monday.

Carolina had a total of five players score in double digits but Junior Josh Gonner led all Gamecocks in scoring with 18 points. Carlos Powell was another Gamecock who had a great night as he recorded a double-double with 13 points and 14 boards. Powell has only three double-doubles in his career with one coming on opening night last year against East Tennessee State in the Colonial Center. Also scoring in double figures for USC was Tarence Kinsey with 15, Kerbrell Brown added 10, and freshman newcomer Renaldo Balkman had 12. Paulius Joneliunas had six, while Tre Kelly chipped in three , and Mike Boynton and Ivan Howell netted two.

The Gamecocks continued their trend of winning games under Head Coach Dave Odom when outrebounding their opponent. The Gamecocks grabbed 51 boards to Inter Hoop’s 32. Offensively Carolina hit the glass hard pulling down 17 rebounds and scoring 11 second chance points.

“We had good improvement on defense and it was very intense,” said USC Head Coach Dave Odom. “We had great leadership out on the court at all times and it was a really good performance by the team. Inter Hoop shot the ball really well against Missouri and they were ranked fifth in the country so we did a good job.”

The Gamecocks open up the 2003-04 regular season with the first round of the Guardians Classic in the Colonial Center on Monday at 8 p.m. against Gardner Webb.