Thornwell, Carrera pace Pro-Am

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The 2014 South Carolina Pro-Am continued Thursday night at Heathwood Hall Episcopal School, with several current and future University of South Carolina players in action.

In the night's first action, Mindaugas Kacinas and Marcus Stroman's team competed, with both players pouring in solid efforts despite just having gotten to the gym following a University of South Carolina's basketball event in partnership with the Special Olympics just 30 minutes earlier.

Kacinas scored 10 points and in quiet work, while Stroman tallied 13, most of it late as h only had 3 points at the half. Both players had three rebounds.

In the second game, Brian Steele and Michael Carrera's team played Sindarius Thornwll's team minus Demetrius Henry, who had a paper to write.

Steele scored nine points - all on 3-pointers - while Thornwell, who had hung around to interact with fans at the Special Olympics event and wasn't certain he would come, showed up just before tipoff and scored 32 points, several on the kind of monster, backboard-crushing jams that energized the Tuesday night crowd.

Carerra, who consistently shows flashes of great play, scored 26, mostly from outside as he works this summer to improve his perimeter game so he can play the small forward position. Tuesday, he took eight 3-pointers, making three, an indication that he's working hard to stretch his game.

In Tuesday's final game, Laimonas Chatkevicius and Duane Notice's team played Reggie Theus Jr. and TeMarcus Blanton's team. Blanton led the Gamecocks in scoring with 16, followed by Chatkevicius (15 points, 7 rebounds), Duane Notice (13 points) and Thus Jr. (2 points).

The final game of the S.C. Pro-Am regular season takes place Thursday, with the playoffs Sunday and Monday followed by the championship game on Tuesday.