In the first game of the 2006 SEC Tournament the “Bulldogs” from Mississippi State hit the floor ready to play; a dunk by 6-4 Fr.-Jamont Gordon off of the opening tip got them started. 6-4 Fr.-Richard Delk made an assist to 7-2 Sr.-Wesley Morgan after a steal and then a few moments later he drilled a three-pointer as the “Bulldogs” raced out tot a 9-2 lead.

The “Gamecocks” fought back behind the play of  6-1 Jr.-Tre’ Kelley who hit a jumper and drilled a three-pointer as South Carolina cut the lead to 10-9. Mississippi State went ahead 13-11 before the “Gamecocks” 6-6 Sr.-Tarence Kinsey scored back-to-back hoops to give South Carolina their first lead 15-13 with 9:21 left in the half.

With 7:22 on the clock Kelley knocked down his 2^nd three-pointer of the game to give the “Gamecocks” their largest lead of the game 20-15. Turnovers started killing the “Bulldogs” late in the half and South Carolina capitalized on them as Kinsey hit a three-pointer opening up a 27-20 lead.

Towards the end of the half former Montgomery High School and Atlanta “Celtics” star 6-6 So.-Dwayne Day entered the game and gave South Carolina a lift scoring a lay-up after a steal by Kelley. A few seconds later Day was fouled on a rebound and hit 1 of 2 free-throws to give the “Gamecocks” a 32-23 lead.

6-8 So.-Charles Rhodes scored on a lay-up for the “Bulldogs” as the half came to an end with South Carolina leading 32-25.

The “Bulldogs” scored 4 quick points at the start of the 2^nd half to cut the lead to 34-29 but the “Gamecocks” quickly responded with baskets by Kinsey, 6-8 Jr.-Renoldo Balkman and Kelley to stretch their lead to 13 points, 44-31.

The trio of Kelley, Kinsey and Balkman did a nice job for the “Gamecocks” as they continued to control the tempo of the game. Mississippi State for whatever reason just seemed to get away from what they were trying to do in the first half and just never got into a good rhythm.

South Carolina scored 22 points off of Mississippi State turnovers as they built up a 17- point lead and went on to a 59-44 win to advance to the next round on Friday where they will face the hot Tennessee “Volunteers”. 

Scoring Recap

South Carolina:

Renaldo Balkman scored a game high 12 points to lead South Carolina. Rocky Trice and Tre’ Kelley each finished with 11 points and 5 assists. Antoine Tisby added 9 points. Dwayne Day finished with 3 points and 3 rebounds.

Mississippi State: