FRIDAY SPORTS: Furman opens tournament play today
Furman begins play in the Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament Friday afternoon at the US Cellular Center in snowy Asheville, NC facing Georgia Southern. Coverage on 96.3 WGOG will begin at 1:00 PM.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Bass fisherman Casey Ashley from Donalds, SC is the leader after day one of the FLW Bass Fishing Tournament on LakeHartwell. Ashley brought in a largemouth weighing 21 pounds, 9 ounces.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
South Carolina head men’s basketball coach Frank Martin has been suspended from his coaching duties for Saturday’s game at Mississippi State. Martin will not accompany the team to Starkville. “The one-game suspension is a result of inappropriate verbal communication as it relates to the well-being of our student-athletes,” said Athletic Director Ray Tanner. Associate head coach Matt Figger will serve as acting head coach when the Gamecocks (11-19, 4-13 SEC) take on the Bulldogs (13-17, 3-14 SEC) in the final regular season game of the year. Game time is set for 4 p.m. ET.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Clemson will host Pittsburgh in the regular season finale of the basketball season Saturday. The Tigers and panthers will tip off at 4:00 PM at Littlejohn Coliseum.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Clemson begins ACC play Friday, with the start of a three game set against Virginia Tech at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. First pitch is set for 6:30 PM.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Furman’s Friday afternoon baseball game at Gardner-Webb has been postponed due to forecasted inclement weather and rescheduled for Saturday at 1:00 p.m. as part of a doubleheader at Furman’s Latham Stadium. First pitch for Saturday’s second game is 4:00 p.m.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
The Los Angeles Clippers routed the L.A. Lakers 142-94 Thursday night, handing the Lakers their most lopsided loss in team history. This was the Clippers’ sixth victory in their last seven meetings with the Lakers, including another blowout, by a score of 123-87, the last time they played, on January 10th, and a four-game sweep last season.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
A witness testified at double-amputee South African Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius’ murder trial in Pretoria Thursday that Pistorius had cried and prayed over his fatally wounded girlfriend as she lay dying or already dead after he’d shot her early in the morning on Valentine’s Day in 2013. Neighbor Johan Stipp, who’s a radiologist, said Pistorius was trying to help 29-year-old Reeva Steenkamp breathe by holding two fingers in her clenched mouth, and was praying to God to let her live. Stipp, who’d gone into Pistorius’ home after hearing screams, said the athlete told him, “I shot her. I thought she was a burglar. I shot her.” Pistorius is charged with intentionally killing Steenkamp after an argument, but he maintains he shot her through a bathroom door because he thought she was an intruder.