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At pivotal moment, Carrera came through for Gamecocks

The pivotal, potentially make-or-break moment in South Carolina’s 78-64 victory over Alabama Saturday afternoon occurred with a few ticks over four minutes remaining.

After USC had led by as many as 15 points with less than nine minutes remaining, the resurgent Crimson Tide had narrowed USC’s lead to six points at 67-61, capping a 14-6 run on a layup with 4:23 left.

With momentum clearly in Alabama’s corner, the Gamecocks badly needed a basket, anything really, to short-circuit the Tide’s wave.

Enter Michael Carrera.

As the Gamecocks brought the ball up the floor, Carrera was just 2-of-10 from the field and had scored 11 points. Frankly, in terms of shooting the basketball, Carrera had endured a forgettable afternoon.

Still, the question lingered. Who was going to take the shot for the Gamecocks? Carrera positioned himself on the wing beyond the 3-point line and the ball was thrown to the 6-foot-5 senior from Venezuela.

Without hesitating, Carrera rose up over his Alabama defender and drained the triple as the crowd erupted to expand USC’s lead to 70-61.

“I knew we needed to score,” Carrera said. “My defender kind of fell. Thank God I made it.”

The Crimson Tide, clearly rattled, got no closer than nine points the rest of the way. In fact, after Carrera’s 3-pointer, Alabama missed their next two shots, clanged a pair of free throws and committed a turnover over the next 2:37.

Carrera? Well, he took over the game down the stretch, scoring nine of USC’s final 11 points, including six free throws, to put the finishing touches on a 20-point, 11-rebound performance.

As far as Frank Martin is concerned, the critical element of Carrera’s vital 3-pointer wasn’t the fact he made the shot. Before you hit a big shot, you must have the willingness to take it, and accept the responsibility if the ball doesn’t go into the basket.

“It took a lot of courage not just to make the shot, but take the shot,” Martin said after USC improved to 12-0 at home this season in front of a sellout crowd of 18,000 at Colonial Life Arena. “To have that courage on a night when he wasn’t shooting it well, when we had to have a basket, to shoot it and not just make it, shows the confidence he is playing with.”

Four days after scoring a career-high 34 points against Mississippi State, Carrera reached the 20-point plateau for the third straight game and posted his fifth double-double (10+ points, 10+ rebounds) of the season. Over the last three games, Carrera is averaging 23.8 points and 10.8 points per game.

“Michael is playing with unbelievable confidence right now as a player,” Martin said. “He had some keys offensive rebounds and free throws coming down the stretch.”

Martin blamed Carrera’s poor shooting percentage (25 percent) on being “too much on edge.”

“Michael hates losing and I could tell at practice yesterday and the shoot-around today that he couldn’t wait for the game,” Martin said. “He was so wrapped with the physicality of the game, with calls, with mistakes. I spent the whole game trying to settle him down. To his credit, he finally did.”

Alabama coach Avery Johnson acknowledged Carrera’s momentum-swinging triple was a “back-breaker” for the Crimson Tide.

“Carrera made a big three,” Johnson said. “He has been playing great. I really love that kid. He’s a fun kid to watch on video as opposed to being on the sideline coaching against him.”

Five of Carrera’s 11 rebounds came at the offensive end, and were among 20 offensive rebounds collected by Gamecocks players compared to 27 defensive rebounds for Alabama.

Aggressively attacking the offensive glass and getting to the free throw line (46 FT attempts) again paid handsome dividends for the Gamecocks.

“That’s who we are. When we’re good, we are attacking the rim and getting to the foul line,” Martin said. “That means we’ve played well.”

With 10 conference teams involved in the SEC/Big 12 challenge, Saturday’s victory catapulted the Gamecocks into a second-place tie with Kentucky and LSU. All three teams are 6-2 in the league, one game behind Texas A&M (7-1).

Three of the Gamecocks’ next four games are against that trio of teams, including LSU (2/10) and Kentucky (2/13) at home within a four-day stretch. Huge crowds equaling Saturday’s sold-out arena are expected for the matchups against the Tigers and Wildcats.

“The crowd gives our team courage to go win these type of games,” Martin said. “It’s awesome. I love the fact our guys play so hard and our crowds are starting to engage. It feels good that when February 1st gets here, we are 19-2 and 6-2 in league play. It’s a lot to proud of our kids. That’s pretty good stuff. Right now, it’s hard for me to enjoy that because I’ll be so consumed with playing Georgia (Tuesday night in Athens)

SEC RESULTS/SCHEDULE (Jan. 30)

Conference Games

South Carolina 78, Alabama 64

Mississippi State 76, Missouri 62

SEC/BIG 12 Challenge

Florida 88, West Virginia 71

Texas 72, Vanderbilt 58

Kansas State 69, Ole Miss 64

TCU 75, Tennessee 63

Texas A&M 72, Iowa State 62

Arkansas 75, Texas Tech 68 (OT)

Oklahoma 77, LSU 75

Baylor 83, Georgia 73

Kansas 90, Kentucky 84 (OT)

Oklahoma State 74, Auburn 63

(Big 12 wins 7-3)

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