SPARTANS
Program History • The Championship in ‘82
The Title in 1982 • Upstate wins NAIA National Championship The following is the story filed by the late Steve Sanders for the Spartanburg Herald-Journal after USC Spartanburg’s 51-38 victory over Biola in the 1982 NAIA National Championship game in Kansas City, Mo. - By Steve Sanders Kansas City, Mo. – USC Spartanburg accomplished what no one else was able to do this season, beat Biola, as the Rifles took a 51-38 victory for the 45th annual NAIA Tournament Championship at Kemper Arena Saturday night. Biola, of LaMiranda, Calif., was the tournament’s top-seed and top-ranked in regular season and took a 39-0 record into the championship game. However, the Eagles hadn’t reckoned with a tough USC Spartanburg defense that had stood in good stead throughout the tournament. USC Spartanburg became the first South Carolina team to ever win the NAIA title and the first Southern team to win it all since West Georgia in 1974. “It may hit me tomorrow,” said USCS coach Jerry Waters of the championship. “I thank the Good Lord for giving me the opportunity to coach a team like this one.” Waters, in only his second season at USCS, is no stranger to winning state championships. He led Middleton High School of Charleston to four state championships. USC Spartanburg, which hit only 39.6 percent of its shots in winning the crown, held a 31-30 lead with just under eight minutes left in the game. The Rifles outscored Biola 10-2 over the next five minutes for a 41-32 lead. A key play in that spurt came when 6-10 Mike Gibson, the tournament Most Valuable Player, tipped in a missed shot for a 37-32 edge with 2:34 to go. Biola’s Mark Santoski was slapped with a technical foul for protesting the basket a little too vehemently. Wendell Gibson, who was also named to the alltournament team, hit the technical free throw for a sixpoint edge. Defense came to the forefront once more for the Rifles after they turned the ballgame around. The Rifles held Biola in check until the 1:19 mark and it was all over but the shouting. Mike Gibson, like his teammates suffered through a shooting slump in the first half, had four key baskets in the second half and finished with 20 points. “I was a little too tight in the first half,” said Gibson. “The coach told us in the locker-room that we could beat these guys. We came out more relaxed in the second half and my jumper began falling for me.” Biola, which hit 42.5 percent of its shots, rushed its shots after USCS’ spurt and the Rifles were on the spot for the key rebounds. “It was a combination of our ineffectiveness against their 1-3-1 half court pressure defense, missed free throws and the shots not dropping in the first half that hurt us,” said Biola co-head coach Howard Lyon. The Eagles hit only four of nine free throws, all of them in the first half and most of them coming early when the Californians could have managed a six or seven point lead with the free throws. “The shooting got better in the second half but not enough to grab the lead and hold it,” said Lyon. “USCS was better than we were tonight.” The victory was the fifth in the tournament that the Rifles won by 10 points or more and finished their championship season with a 27-5 record.
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Neither team could get untracked offensively in the first half as a layup by Biola’s Warren Ellis just under three minutes into the game were the first points. A jumper by Wendell Gibson at the 15:52 mark got USCS on the scoreboard. Doug Lightbody, who hit all six of his free throw attempts and added 12 points for the Rifles, hit two free throws with 5:32 to go and it was 12-12. Biola grabbed the lead twice more, the last time at 16-14 with 2:18 left. The Eagles didn’t score again as they made three turnovers that led to USCS baskets in the final minute. Mike Gibson had a jumper and Wendell Gibson added a jumper at the buzzer for a 20-16 halftime lead. The first 10 minutes of the second half saw both teams trying to get something going on offense. Biola’s last lead was at 28-27 on a jumper by Rich Cundall with 9:40 to go. Mike Gibson hit a jumper to regain the lead for USCS, which hung on tenaciously for the next two minutes and then started opening the gap. Waters had brought his USCS team to the tournament last year and the Rifles bowed out in the second round. He was confident of his chances this year. “I honestly felt coming out here, after playing out here last year, that we could play with the competition out here,” he said. “I knew we just had to want it bad enough, rebound and play defense.” Defense and rebounding were the keys to the championship. USCS had a 28-25 advantage on the boards against Biola to mark the fourth time in five games that the Rifles had won on the boards. The Rifles allowed opponents 54.2 points in the tournament and constantly kept the pressure on. “I have always felt defense is the key,” said Waters. “I wasn’t surprised it won for us tonight. Defense has won for me since I have been a coach.” Gibson agreed with his coach, saying, “We were
tight and tired and our defense kept us in the game until we could get our offense going.” Wade Kirchmeyer, who had averaged almost 23 points in the four previous games, and Ellis did the bulk of Biola’s scoring. Kirchmeyer had 17 points and Ellis 14 to account for all but seven of the Eagles’ points. “We figured we had to keep their big men off the boards,” noted Mike Gibson. “We felt that if we could do that we would be in pretty good shape.” Pat McDougall, the Eagles’ 6-9 center, had seven rebounds. The 6-7 Santoski and the 6-7 Kirchmeyer had five and three, respectively.
1982 NAIA National Championship Game Box Score Date: 3-13-82 Arena: Kemper Arena - Kansas City, Mo. Visitors: USC Spartanburg Home: Biola Length of game: 2:00 rebounds ## Player fg fga ft fta of de tot 22 Wendell Gibson f 4 14 1 4 3 7 10 30 Mike Gibson f 9 16 2 2 4 7 11 33 Odell Cleveland c 0 5 1 3 1 4 5 03 James Holland g 1 2 2 3 0 1 1 04 Doug Lightbody g 3 4 6 6 0 1 1 12 Chris Brown 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 44 Paul Small 2 2 1 2 0 2 2 Totals 19 43 13 20 8 22 30 TEAM 1 2 3 TOTAL FG% - Game: 44.2%; F Throw % - Game: 65.0%
pf tp a to min 1 9 3 3 35 1 20 0 2 35 0 1 0 1 33 1 4 6 1 35 1 12 1 2 31 0 0 0 0 8 2 5 0 1 23 6 51 10 10 200
rebounds ## Player fg fga ft fta of de tot pf tp a to min 12 Santoski * 2 5 0 0 0 2 2 4 4 1 6 33 20 Kirchmeyer * 7 12 3 4 1 3 4 2 17 0 2 35 25 Cundall * 1 6 0 0 0 4 4 3 2 3 2 26 30 Ellis * 7 14 0 1 0 3 3 2 14 0 2 34 40 Fiola * 0 1 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 2 1 27 10 Harper 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 17 24 McDougall 0 2 1 4 2 6 8 1 1 2 2 18 32 Gilbert 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 Totals 17 41 4 9 3 20 23 14 38 8 16 200 TEAM 2 2 4 TOTAL FG% - 41.5%; F Throw % - 44.4% -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total USC Spartanburg 20 31 51 Biola 16 22 38 Technical fouls: USC Spartanburg-None. Biola-Santoski.
2012-13 USC Upstate Men’s Basketball Media Guide