THURSDAY SPORTS: Gamecocks lose at 10th-ranked Florida

South Carolina (7-7, 0-1) had to weather a tough start in Wednesday night’s SEC opener at No. 10/11 Florida (12-2, 1-0) to keep the game close, but an 11-0 run midway through second half propelled the Gators past the Gamecocks, 74-58, at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville. Florida guard Scottie Wilbekin led all scorers with 17 points including, 3-6 shooting from beyond the arc, and senior center Patric Young added 13 points and seven rebounds.

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The Clemson Tigers host ACC foe Florida State Thursday night at 7:05 PM at Littlejohn Coliseum.

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The Furman men’s basketball team returns to YP Court at Timmons Arena to host Southern Conference rival Davidson on Thursday. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. The Paladins enter Thursday’s game at 6-9 overall and 0-2 in league play after suffering a 90-82 loss at UNCG on Monday night. You can hear the game Thursday night on 96.3 WGOG beginning with the Paladin pre-game show at 6:30 PM.

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In the NBA Wednesday, Kyle Korver scored 17 points, and the Atlanta Hawks raced to a big lead before holding off the team with the NBA’s best record, beating the weary Indiana Pacers 97-87 at Philips Arena.

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Clemson and Wyoming have scheduled a football game to be played at Clemson on September 18, 2021. It will be the third time Clemson has faced a team from the Mountain West Conference. Clemson has played UNLV and Utah State previously.

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Clemson’s leading tackler Stephone Anthony and seventh leading tackler Corey Crawford, both announced Wednesday that they will return to Clemson for their respective senior seasons. Both were starters on Clemson’s defense that led the nation in tackles for loss and were big reasons the Tigers finished the season with an 11-2 record and a number-seven national ranking by the USA Today Coaches Poll.

In a sidenote, according to Neil Stratton of InsidetheLeague.com, defensive end Vic Beasley is going to forgo his senior season and enter the draft. However, there’s been no official word on that from Beasley or Clemson.

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Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd and wide receiver Sammy Watkins were both named to the NFL.com All-Bowl team for the 2013-14 FBS bowl season. In fact, Watkins was named the offensive postseason MVP for all bowl games by the website that is the official site of the NFL.

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Former Clemson Tigers DeAndre Hopkins and Andre Ellington were both named to Mel Kiper’s NFL All-Rookie team for the 2013 season. Hopkins was in his first year with the Houston Texans, while Ellington was in his first year with the Arizona Cardinals.

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Quarterback Johnny Manziel has decided to turn pro, declaring for the NFL draft Wednesday after two spectacular seasons with Texas A&M in which he became the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy. Manziel was again a finalist for this Heisman in 2013, but ended up finishing fifth, as the trophy went to Florida State’s Jameis Winston. In his final college game on New Year’s Eve, Manziel led the Aggies to a 52-48 come-from-behind win over Duke in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl.

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Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas were elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame Wednesday in their first appearances on the ballot. Former Atlanta Braves Maddux, eighth on the career wins list with 355, and Glavine, with 305 wins, are the first teammates on a starting rotation to be elected together since 1946, and Thomas, who hit 521 home runs, is the first Hall of Famer who spent the majority of his career as a designated hitter. Craig Biggio fell two votes short of being elected. Not coming close, however, were Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, whose percentage of the votes from the baseball writers actually fell a bit, both in the mid-30 percent range, in their second year of eligibility, far from the 75 percent required. Both have been tainted by the widespread — although not proven — belief that they used performance-enhancing drugs.