COLUMBIA, S.C. -- South Carolinas offense finally opened things up this season. Freshman quarterback Jake Bentley was a big reason why.Bentley threw for two touchdowns and 201 yards Saturday in his first college game to lead the Gamecocks to a 34-28 victory over Massachusetts. The victory matched the Gamecocks total from their dysfunctional 2015 season and was the most points they had scored this fall.We just really opened up the playbook when Jake was back there, because we know he can throw it very well, said receiver Deebo Samuel, who had eight catches for 106 yards.South Carolina coach Will Muschamp was expecting to redshirt Bentley this season before the teams mounting offensive problems -- they entered dead last in points per game in the Football Bowl Subdivision -- left the first-year coach open to any solution.Bentley proved the right answer against the Minutemen (1-7). He led the Gamecocks (3-4) to touchdowns on their first two series, and then threw a pair of pretty fade passes for TD, the first from 16 yards out to K.C. Crosby and later a 24-yarder to Bryan Edwards to lead 27-7.When UMass cut things to 34-28 with less than 5 minutes left, Bentley accounted for 30 yards to help the Gamecocks run out the clock.Muschamp said he and quarterbacks coach Kurt Roper decided Bentley had improved enough from August until now to be a positive change for the teams attack. Bentley had waited for his shot behind senior Perry Orth and fellow freshman Brandon McIlwain, who had each started three games this season.At the end of the day, we felt like he had progressed very well, he said.Bentley was not available to the media per Muschamps rules against letting freshman do interviews.Running back David Williams ran for two 1-yard TDs for South Carolina, but said he was excited about Bentleys debut.Ive just been impressed since I met, his IQ, how comfortable he is, leading the Gamecocks, Williams said.Muschamp was frustrated with his defense, especially in the second half when the Minutemen rallied.It was an excited locker room because we won, he said. But its also a locker room that knows it made mistakes and corrections have to be made.UMass did its share to help with three turnovers in the opening half, two which led to two South Carolina scores.Tight end Adam Breneman had two TD catches for Massachusetts, which fell to 0-3 against Southeastern Conference teams this fall.THE TAKEAWAYMASSACHUSETTS: UMass has been outscored 131-77 in its four games this season against teams from the Power 5 conferences.SOUTH CAROLINA: Its future -- and offensive recovery -- may have started with Bentley behind center. The freshman, wholl turn 19 next month, is sure to have some bumps ahead, maybe as soon as next weeks home game against No. 18 Tennessee. But there was little benefit keeping the strong-armed Bentley on the bench if he could spark up the offense this season.SOUTH CAROLINAS RUN GAMEAfter gaining only 30 yards in a 28-14 loss to Georgia two weeks ago, Gamecock runners put up 194 yards against the Minutemen. Freshman Rico Dowdle led the way with 87 yards and Williams had 69 yards.NEAR MISSESBreneman said UMass knows how close it has come in its games with the SEC this season -- losing 24-7 to Florida and 47-35 to Mississippi State before the South Carolina game.Is it impressive that weve played with three SEC teams so far and you look back on it and see that we couldve won all three of those games if we wouldve made one less mistake, Breneman said. At the same time, at some point, being close isnt good enough. I think thats the feeling in the locker room.UP NEXTMASSACHUSETTS: The Minutemen return home to play Football Championship Subdivision opponent Wagner. The game ends the UMass home season as it finishes with games at Troy, BYU and Hawaii.SOUTH CAROLINA: The Gamecocks go back to the Southeastern Conference grinder against No. 18 Tennessee. The Gamecocks have only won two SEC games the past two seasons and will face a difficult challenge against the Vols, who are in the thick of the Eastern Division chase. Custom Pittsburgh Penguins Jerseys . - Connor McDavid scored 53 seconds into overtime as the Erie Otters came from behind to defeat the visiting Guelph Storm 4-3 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action. Mark Recchi Jersey . Cuban testified Thursday that he was upset when the companys CEO told him news that would reduce the value of his shares, for which hed paid $7.5 million. But he said he did nothing improper when he sold those shares over the next two days. https://www.cheappenguinsjersey.com/ .B. -- The Baie-Comeau Drakkar took over sole possession of first place atop the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League on Thursday with their sixth straight win. Dan Frawley Jersey .J. -- Marshawn Lynch said Thursday it will be good to get back to football after the Seattle quiet talking running back wrapped up his final mandatory media session of Super Bowl week. Jake Guentzel Jersey . It was the second consecutive win for the Pacers (2-5), who lost their first five preseason games. Jeff Teague led the Hawks (1-5) with 17 points and eight assists and Al Horford had 12 points and seven rebounds. Mike Scott scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Each quarter begins with pure, unbridled speed, a furious dash from the mouth of the goal to the middle of the pool while your opponent comes barreling at you from the opposite direction. At stake is the most valuable commodity in water polo: possession of the ball.While players have all sorts of tricks for winning the sprints, they all agree on one thing: Practice makes perfect.Pushing off the wall is way better, U.S. driver Rachael Fattal said. But (you) try to get momentum, so if you can get momentum its not too bad. Its definitely something you have to work on.U.S. coach Adam Krikorian lets his players decide who takes the sprints -- They know better than I do, he said -- and it worked out quite well in an 11-6 victory over Hungary on Saturday, concluding a 3-0 run through group play for the defending Olympic champions. The Americans had the ball at the beginning of each quarter, with Fattal taking two sprints, Hungary jumping early on one and the U.S. winning a jump ball after a tie-up in the fourth.Fattal said captain Maggie Steffens lines up next to her for the sprints and helps her watch the referees.I only look at one. Maggies telling me what the other ref behind me is doing, Fattal said. So when she puts her hand up I know that my persons going to put their hand up and get ready to go, but I just go as fast as I can. I put my head down and hold my breath and I go.Standing nearby, Steffens pointed right back to Fattal.Shes a competitor, Steffens said.Timing the starting whistle is a big key -- If you start little bit later, you dont have a chance, said Zivko Gocic, the captain of Serbias mens team -- but you also have to get up to full speed as quickly as possible -- without the benefit of starting blocks or a wall.Its pretty tough, Australia driver Keesja Gofers said. Its always nice to do sprints off the wall, when you get a nice push-off. But we do work a lot on our breaststtroke and egg beater (kicks), so were used to starting from nothing and like changing speeds.dddddddddddd.Gofers and Rowie Webster scored two goals apiece to help Australia beat Brazil 10-3 to finish second in Group A behind unbeaten Italy. Australia will face Hungary in Mondays first quarterfinal when the tournament shifts to the Olympic Aquatics Stadium for the next round.Also Saturday, Laura Lopez Ventosa scored four times as Spain pulled away from China for a 12-8 victory, and Roberta Bianconi had three goals in Italys 10-5 win against Russia. Spain and Russia meet in Mondays quarters, and Italy takes on China.Next up for the United States is Brazil, which has dropped each of the three meetings between the countries this year by a combined score of 55-7.The U.S. got a preview of what it likely will see more and more the rest of the way when Hungary tried a physical approach against the speedy Americans. But Steffens scored four times and Maddie Musselman had three goals to send the U.S. to its 19th straight victory.Thats what we need to be ready for, Krikorian said. I think Id be shocked if teams dont come out and play real more physical with us. Everyones looking for an edge and trying to find a way to gain an advantage and obviously thats one way to play.Steffens leads the tournament with 10 goals after scoring 21 times during the United States march to its first Olympic gold. The Stanford star seems to have picked up right where she left off in London.Shes a captain for a reason, Krikorian said. Obviously an excellent player, but Id say an even better leader, and someone that we can kind of count on to play with intelligence and play with intensity all the time. Thats exactly what you want out of your leader.---Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap ' ' '