COLLEGE BASKETBALL

SOUTH CAROLINA WINS SECOND STRAIGHT NIT TITLE South Carolina certainly didn’t begin the season hoping to repeat as NIT champions. The Gamecocks were, however, happy to end it that way and become only the second school to win consecutive NIT titles.

Tarence Kinsey scored 21 points and Tre’ Kelley added 20 and seven assists to help South Carolina (23-15) beat Michigan 76-64 last night night at Madison Square Garden.

Renaldo Balkman added 10 points, 11 rebounds and six blocks and was named the MVP of the tournament for South Carolina. Daniel Horton, who was the MVP of the 2004 NIT, scored 18 points to lead Michigan (22-10), which was trying to win its second championship in three years.

Chris Hunter and Brent Petway each added 12 for Michigan, which won the title in 2004 with most of the same players who led this year’s run to Madison Square Garden.

TENNIS

RODDICK FALLS TO FERRER AT NASDAQ-100 Andy Roddick was betrayed by his serve and hit another bump in his bid to shake an early slump, losing to David Ferrer 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 yesterday in the Nasdaq-100 Open quarterfinals.

Roddick, who slipped from third to fourth in the rankings last week, has yet to reach a final this year. His biggest weapon is his serve, but against the 11th-seeded Ferrer he was broken four times and lost 20 of 30 points on his second serve. The no. 4-seeded Roddick lost the first four games, climbed back into the match in the second set and rallied from a break down to reach 4-4 in the third set.

Ferrer broke again in the next game. A call reversed by instant replay gave the Spaniard a point to make it 15-40,and he pulled a backhand crosscourt for a winner to take the game. Ferrer then served out the match,improving his record against top-10 opponents to 8-18. He’ll take on Roger Federer in the final today. Federer, the top seed, defeated American James Blake 7-6, 6-4 in the other semifinal. The ninth-ranked Blake is inside the top 10 for the first time in his career.

On the women’s side of the draw, Svetlana Kuznetsova reached the final by beating top-ranked Amelie Mauresmo for the second time in five weeks, 6-1, 6-4. Kuznetsova’s opponent Saturday will be the winner of the semifinal Thursday night between no. 4-seeded Maria Sharapova and no. 22 Tatiana Golovin.The title would be the biggest for Kuznetsova since she won the 2004 U.S. Open.

GOLF

MICKELSON OFF TO HOT START AT BELLSOUTH CLASSIC Phil Mickelson got off to a fast start in his bid for a third Bell-South Classic title – and made it clear that he’s in top form for the Masters.

Mickelson tied the tournament course record, shooting a 9-under 63 to take a one-shot lead over Gavin Coles in the first round of the final tuneup for Augusta. Mickelson birdied six of the first seven holes on the TPC at Sugarloaf. Tiger Woods set the course record in 1998 and Duffy Waldorf (1999) and Ben Crane (2003) also have shot 63s on the Greg Norman-designed layout. In 1979, when the tournament was held at the Atlanta Country Club, Andy Bean shot a record 61.

Coles had a career-best 64. Charles Warren opened with a 65, and Joe Durant, Ian Poulter and Scott Parel shot 66s.

– Associated Press