Cloninger: Cardiac Carolina pulls off another win

As much as they sometimes seem about to throw it all away, they find another way to win.

And that’s the best characteristic about this South Carolina team. One can see the disappointment and heartbreak coming one more time but like they said before the season and they keep saying it after every game, they’ve been here before.

“We was good,” Sindarius Thornwell said. “We stayed locked in, stayed focused and did what we had to do to get the win.”

You have to know this program’s tortured history to really understand. The ones who have seen it like I have know exactly what I’m talking about.

Every time the Gamecocks seem to be flying high, a bird gets sucked into the engine or the clear highway in front of them has the car fall in a pothole that hasn’t been repaired since the Hoover administration. Think leaving the ACC at the height of its power or an administrative battle with the best coach in program history or Steve Newton or the Bobby Cremins switcheroo or Coppin State or Dominique Archie’s knee or last year.

So when it was all set up this year, in first place with a no-doubt NCAA tournament team, of course four losses in five games happened. Of course it did.

The NIT logos on Twitter and the arrows fired by outsiders were unwelcome, premature but completely understandable. It’s just happened too many times, see? Even when USC as an athletic department won national championships and became Top 25 darned near across the board, there was always the feeling the Monty Python monster was waiting over the next hill. In men’s basketball, “Don’t hope” and “I can’t believe I fell for it again!” were knocking #securethebag right out of the hashtag-osphere.

There it was against Mississippi State. Senior Night, with MSU checking in with six straight losses and eight of nine, holding an RPI of 144 with its best player unavailable. Double-bye in the SEC tournament (and some say a lock for an NCAA bid) if USC wins.

No way the Gamecocks lose. No. Way.

The Bulldogs led with four minutes to go. The Gamecocks refused to drive the lane against a team that was in the bonus with 12 minutes to go in the first half, settling for 3-point tries that missed and missed and missed some more. I can’t imagine the battle within P.J. Dozier’s head right now, the sophomore still being aggressive but nothing going right. The three seniors, on their night, were all ceding to Chris Silva, who was battling his butt off inside and posterized Schnider Herard with a humiliation of a dunk that rivaled anything Tracy McGrady, John Starks and Vince Carter ever did.

There were still games to play – Saturday at Ole Miss, the SEC tournament – but was anyone doubting how bad a loss would look? That’s just the kind of game (like Missouri last year) that is nearly impossible to erase and in so short a time to do so with this program’s history and the way the team played in February, it sinks a season.

And this team – this never-quit team – pulled it off one more time. Like it did against Monmouth and Florida and Georgia (twice) and Mississippi State the first time. Give the Gamecocks credit – they’re smart enough to know when they’re facing these kind of situations, they always have a ready-made answer, and he wears No. 0.

Thornwell drove and was fouled and swished two free throws for the tie. MSU missed and fouled and turned it over so Duane Notice could get to the line. Silva got to the line.

Then Notice delivered the five-finger death punch, his only field goal of the game and just the Gamecocks’ fourth 3-pointer in 19 attempts. USC made enough plays down the stretch to keep the game just out of reach from MSU and jolt its season, one more time, back to life.

Nobody talked NCAA tournament because again, they were there last year. It certainly seems that even if they lose their next two, they’ll be fine. A double-bye in the SEC tournament is so beneficial because of the stakes of that final weekend – the sooner your team stops getting talked about then, the worse off it’s going to be, and the Gamecocks can’t lose on Thursday if they don’t play on Thursday. Play late on Friday, get to Saturday and get your name called Sunday.

It seems assured, but USC doesn’t want to leave it to chance. The Gamecocks know how special and how unattainable NCAA tournament appearances can be around here, and the players talked of beating Ole Miss Saturday while the coach talked about his desire to get to Semifinal Saturday next week.

One can see the edge of darkness and light.

And this time, it’s sunrise.

This story was originally published March 1, 2017 at 12:56 AM with the headline "Cloninger: Cardiac Carolina pulls off another win."