Jan 10, 2004

Box Score

By KEITH PARSONS
AP Sports Writer

ATHENS, Ga. – Renaldo Balkman, benched for part of the first half for coming late to the pre-game meal, led an early 12-0 run with his first five points and helped South Carolina beat Georgia 84-63 Saturday.

Starter Carlos Powell also was tardy earlier in the day, so he was taken out of the lineup. Balkman, normally the first player off the bench, instead was the second one.

It hardly mattered. The Gamecocks (14-2, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) trailed only once and won for only the third time in 13 games in Athens. Kerbrell Brown scored 18 points for South Carolina and Powell and Josh Gonner added 13 each.

Balkman finished with 12 points.

Chris Daniels had 18 for the Bulldogs (8-5, 0-2), who haven’t been able to build on a victory last Saturday against then-No. 3 Georgia Tech. In their first two SEC games, they’ve lost by a combined 45 points to Tennessee and South Carolina.

Next, Georgia travels to No. 7 Kentucky.

A 3-pointer by Rashad Wright brought the Bulldogs within 17-16 midway through the first half, before the Gamecocks pulled away for good. Balkman started the spurt by driving for a layup, and then banked in a 3 from the wing as he was knocked out of bounds.

A quick steal led to a basket by Rolando Howell, and Powell scored after another Georgia turnover. Tarence Kinsey finished off the run with a 3-pointer, and South Carolina led 29-16.

The Bulldogs got back to 31-24 on a three-point play by Levi Stukes before the Gamecocks closed the half with an 11-4 run. It was started – again – by Balkman, who scored after a beautiful alley-oop pass from Tre Kelley with the shot clock running down.

But Kelley’s best assist came just before the break. With South Carolina running out the clock, he threaded the needle with a crisp pass from the top of the key to Howell on the baseline.

Howell dunked as he was fouled, and although he missed the free throw, the Gamecocks still led 42-28.

Any thoughts of a comeback by Georgia ended with about 13 minutes left, when Mike Boynton converted a four-point play to make it 54-32.

Even with the late clearing of the bench, the Bulldogs still only got four points from their reserves, including two in the first half by Steve Newman.

Buzz Wehnut and Joey Waldrop each made a free throw in the final minutes.