AIKEN - The new-look USC Aiken men's basketball team ran almost step for step with No. 14 Catawba in the first half of Tuesday's season-opener at The Courthouse.
But in the second half, the Indians ran away from the Pacers and started their season with a 96-83 win.
"They used their experience on us in the second half," said first-year Pacers coach Vince Alexander.
Junior forward Chris Wooldridge came off the bench to lead the Indians attack, scoring 26 points and grabbing seven rebounds - both team-highs - in 18 minutes. Catawba scored 46 of its points in the paint and 26 on second-chance attempts.
"We just did not do a good job inside defensively," Alexander said. "... I think they're disappointed, and that's a good sign, because if you're not disappointed, then we're in trouble for the rest of this year."
Alexander said he expects his post players to respond in practice this week.
In the first half, the Pacers made a game of it thanks to double-digit performances by freshman guard Kingsley Oguchi and sophomore guard Josh Poston, who had 11 and 10 points, respectively.
The Pacers shot 45.5 percent from the floor, including 6 of 11 from the 3-point line.
"We left the wrong kids open a few times in transition," Indians coach Jim Baker said.
- In the first game of the doubleheader at The Courthouse, the USC Aiken women lost to No. 19 Carson-Newman, 61-54 in the season-opener for both teams.
Pacers coach Mike Brandt sent out two freshmen and one transfer in the starting lineup and had eight underclassmen eat up 136 of a possible 200 minutes against a senior-laden Eagles team that played only two underclassmen. That lack of experience helped lead to turnovers on the Pacers' first three possessions, including an errant inbound pass and a shot-clock violation.
"Those are correctable errors with some experience and patience," Brandt said.
The shaky start didn't hurt the Pacers (0-1) too badly, though, because the Eagles turned the ball over four times before they hit their first jump shot.
USC Aiken was able to build a lead as big as seven points before Carson-Newman narrowed the gap to one on a pair of free throws by Ashley Tipton with 3:44 left in the first half.
Reach Kristy Shonka at (706) 823-3216 or kristy.shonka@augustachronicle.com.
CATAWBA 96, USC AIKEN 83
CATAWBA (1-0)-JOLLY MANNING 1-1 3-4 5, HELGI MAGNUSSON 4-7 0-0 9, ANDY THOMSON 2-6 3-4 7, AHMAD MURPHY 2-5 2-3 6, BRIAN GRAVES 4-10 1-3 11, JORVEWE GIBSON 1-1 0-0 2, ROKUS BARTASIUS 3-4 0-0 7, DARION WILLIAMS 0-0 0-0 0, JORDAN MOIR 0-0 1-2 1, CHRIS WOOLDRIDGE 12-14 2-5 26, JASON DIGGS 2-4 1-4 5, JAMEL HAMILTON 6-14 1-2 15, FINNUR MAGNUSSON 1-1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 38-67 14-27 96.
USC AIKEN (0-1)-KINGSLEY OGUCHI 5-9 7-8 18, KENNY BURR 1-3 3-5 6, SCOTTY FRATER 2-11 3-3 7, JOSH POSTON 5-8 3-4 16, CHRIS BROWN 1-4 0-0 2, ANTHONY SAMPSON 3-7 0-0 6, RICHARD BLOCKER 3-5 1-2 9, LUKAS VARGA 4-8 2-4 13, THEO OATES 2-7 0-0 4, TERRENCE WOODBURY 0-2 0-0 0, ARNOLD COATES 1-2 0-2 2, RICHARD GLOVER 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 27-67 10-23 83.
HALFTIME: TIED 46-46. 3-POINT GOALS: CATAWBA 6-18 (GRAVES 2-4, HAMILTON 2-6, BARTASIUS 1-1, H. MAGNUSSON 1-3), USC AIKEN 10-23 (POSTON 3-5, VARGA 3-6, BLOCKER 2-4, OGUCHI 1-3, BURR 1-3). REBOUNDS: CATAWBA 42 (WOOLDRIDGE 7), USC AIKEN 37 (FRATER 7). ASSISTS: CATAWBA 20 (MURPHY, GRAVES 4), USC AIKEN 17 (OGUCHI, POSTON 4). TURNOVERS: CATAWBA 20, USC AIKEN 23. FOULS: CATAWBA 25, USC AIKEN 26. FOULED OUT: USC AIKEN-COATES. A-884.
CARSON-NEWMAN WOMEN 61, USC AIKEN 54
CARSON-NEWMAN (1-0)-AMANDA RAY 4-9 3-4 11, GIOVANNI BOOKER 0-3 0-2 0, GABRIELLE SMITH 3-9 3-4 9, NICOLE AVRETT 0-0 0-0 0, RENITA CLARK 2-8 2-3 7, ELYSE GARCIA 0-0 1-2 1, EBONI JOHNSON 1-4 0-0 2, TASHEA LEDBETTER 4-7 5-7 13, MELANIE CLEUSIX 0-0 0-0 0, CASSIE BURKS 2-8 0-0 5, LATOYA DAVISON 1-1 0-0 2, ASHLEY TIPTON 3-4 3-4 11. TOTALS: 20-53 17-26 61.
USC AIKEN (0-1)-MEREDITH LEGG 3-6 0-0 8, NOLA GRANT 4-13 4-4 12, SATU LEPPANEN 2-4 3-4 7, LATOSHIA BROADWATER 1-4 0-0 2, MINDY ALLEE 2-5 0-0 5, AVONTE WILLIAMS 2-4 4-7 9, NICHOLE BENNETT 0-1 0-0 0, KENDRA CHANDLER 0-1 0-0 0, KEIRSTIN JONES 1-3 1-2 3, MEGAN STARNES 0-2 0-0 0, ALLISON JACKSON 0-1 4-6 4, JORDAN THOMAS 0-3 4-4 4. TOTALS: 15-47 20-27 54.
HALFTIME: CARSON-NEWMAN 30-22. 3-POINT GOALS: CARSON-NEWMAN 4-13 (TIPTON 2-3, CLARK 1-4, BURKS 1-5), USC AIKEN 4-14 (LEGG 2-4, WILLIAMS 1-2, ALLEE 1-2). REBOUNDS: CARSON-NEWMAN 33 (SMITH 6), USC AIKEN 42 (WILLIAMS 9). ASSISTS: CARSON-NEWMAN 12 (BOOKER 6), USC AIKEN 11 (LEGG, ALLEE, WILLIAMS 2). TURNOVERS: CARSON-NEWMAN 18, USC AIKEN 25. FOULS: CARSON-NEWMAN 21, USC AIKEN 17. FOULED OUT: NONE. A-612.
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