Gamecocks avoid upset

COLUMBIA -- Thurman Zim­merman grinned devilishly as he walked up to South Carolina's Carlos Powell.

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South Carolina State's star forward then began pitter-pattering his oversized sneakers against the Colonial Center floor, just beside Powell, as the teams prepared for overtime.

Seems as if the Columbia native was asking Powell if he could hear the footsteps.

One road-weary group of Gamecocks plus one hungry in-state upstart equalled a 68-65 overtime win for South Carolina and a sort of character-building loss for the Bulldogs.

"They easily could have won this basketball game," Odom said. "I had a lot of respect for them. I have more now."

South Carolina State might not be giant killers, per se, just yet, but it's not far from it.

In addition to the scare at the Colonial Center, the Bulldogs

(7-3) have wins over Penn State and Miami.

"We thought this could happen," said Zimmerman, an alumnus of Keenan High in Columbia, who had 12 points and 12 rebounds. "After Penn State and Miami, we came up here to win the game. We came looking for the upset."

South Carolina State led by one at the half, and the two teams traded leads until Demeco Heath nailed a NBA-range 3-pointer that gave the Bulldogs their largest lead of the game, 50-43, with 8:31 left.

Tarence Kinsey sparked a 12-0 Gamecocks run, scoring 10 of the dozen, to regain the lead at 55-50 with 3:23 remaining.

Kinsey, a junior from Tampa, Fla., had a career-high 23 points.

"I told him he looked like (number) 23 from the Bulls out there," said guard Tre Kelley, who added 15, including six in overtime.

He provided a needed shooting boost, hitting 8 of 16 shots in the absence of Gamecocks senior Josh Gonner.

Gonner, who didn't dress, is out with a banged-up shoulder suffered in the team's last-minute win over East Carolina earlier this week.

South Carolina (7-2) held a 57-52 lead with two minutes left, but Brandon Trapp, a Columbia native, and Derrick Davis answered with five straight points to send the game to overtime.

The Gamecocks hit nine free throws and one field goal to eke out the three-point win.

Biting nails wasn't the first thing on South Carolina's mind, though. It was the Gamecocks' aching muscles and bones, worn down from three games in five days, with the previous two occurring in the Central time zone.

"I think it was all about courage," Kelley said.

Others thought it was about much-needed rest and a brief holiday break.

"We just wanted to get the game over," Kinsey said. "We didn't want anything to do with double overtime."

Reach Travis Haney at (706) 823-3304 or travis.haney@augustachronicle.com.