By Pete Iacobelli
Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. ó Stephen Curry showed he’s still spectacular in the postseason, no matter the tournament.
Curry scored 32 points Tuesday night in leading Davidson to a 70-63 victory over South Carolina in the opening round of the NIT.
He had 13 of the Wildcats’ final 17 points during a second-half stretch in which they broke open a tie game.
A loss in the Southern Conference tournament cost Davidson (27-7) a return trip to the NCAA tournament. It took a weekend surprise party that Curry’s friends and teammates threw for him to snap the Wildcats back to the possibilities of winning in the NIT.”Nothing’s going to top the experience we had last year,” Curry said. “But for this year, this is the next step we have. We’re playing more games, and we have another opportunity to make another story.
“That’s why we’re excited.”
The Wildcats face the St. Mary’s-Washington State winner in the second round.
Like Davidson, South Carolina (21-10) entered the weekend with NCAA hopes as co-champions of the SEC Eastern Division. A loss in the SEC tournament scuttled the Gamecocks’ hopes for a bid.
Tuesday’s game was tied 51-all after Devan Downey’s driving basket with 9:15 to go.
Andrew Lovedale’s field goal broke the tie and put the Wildcats ahead for good.
Things began to change when USC coach Darrin Horn was called for a technical foul. Curry hit two foul shots to make it 55-51. Lovedale followed with another basket, and Curry struck with his fifth and final 3-pointer.
In the final minute, Curry pointed to a group of Davidson fans at the Colonial Life Arena who partied like the Wildcats had reached the Final Four.
“Our mentality is we have another game to play,” Curry said. “A lot of other teams don’t have another game. So for us to come out and play a great South Carolina team, we just wanted to keep playing.”
Lovedale finished with 17 points and nine rebounds.
Downey had 18 points for South Carolina, which had only lost one game at home through February. It dropped its last two on campus.
Curry got going right away. He opened the game with 25-footer and had 12 of team’s first 23 points as the Wildcats opened up an 11-point lead. He picked up his second foul soon after and spent much of the rest of the half on the bench.
Downey, tied for third nationally at three steals a game, started on Curry. Zam Fredrick, Evaldas Baniulis and Branden Conrad all took their turns shadowing the NCAA’s top scorer.
“He’s a great player,” said Conrad, who grew up playing with Curry in the Charlotte area. “I think the whole country knows that.”
Still, Curry finished with the most points by an opposing player at the Colonial Life Arena.
South Carolina didn’t help itself with awful shooting. At one point, it was 4 of 19 overall while Davidson was 4-for-6 on 3-pointers.