South Carolina's Tre Kelley (1) and Tarence Kinsey (21, center) stand with teammates and head coach Dave Odom, left, on the court after South Carolina defeated Western Kentucky 74-55 in a first-round NIT basketball game Wednesday, March 15, 2006, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Perry Baker)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- South Carolina remembers how much fun it had at the NIT in New York last year. The Gamecocks hope to be back in the Big Apple to defend the title.

Seniors Tarence Kinsey scored 23 points and Antoine Tisby added 16 to lift South Carolina to a 74-55 victory over Western Kentucky on Wednesday night in the first round of the NIT. South Carolina is trying to become the second team to win consecutive NIT titles -- St. John's accomplished the feat in 1943 and 1944.

"We thought about the fun," said Kinsey, who was 5-for-9 on 3-pointers and had four steals. "I think right now we're having more fun. We put way too much pressure on ourselves."

Indeed they may have. The Gamecocks were expected to make a run at the NCAA tournament this season, but won two of nine games that were decided by three points or less.

South Carolina (19-15), which has played five games in seven days, didn't have to worry about this one coming down to the wire.

Tre Kelley added 13 points as the Gamecocks controlled the game throughout.

The Hilltoppers (23-8), led by Anthony Winchester's 20 points, got within six with 7:47 to go, but South Carolina went on a 16-2 run to seal the game. Winchester also grabbed 16 rebounds.

Western Kentucky was without Courtney Lee, who was averaging 17 points a game. Lee played in the Sun Belt Conference tournament despite a broken hand, but after doctors re-evaluated him, they decided playing in Wednesday's contest would have risked further injury.

"We realized we were playing a team that was missing one of its best players," South Carolina coach Dave Odom said. "That certainly messed up their offensive cohesion."

Winchester's five consecutive points kept the Hilltoppers in it late. But 23 turnovers kept them from getting too close.

"The difference was turnovers," Western Kentucky coach Darrin Horn said. "They had 35 points off turnovers and you look at the stat sheet, there were a lot of areas where we were better."

The Hilltoppers outrebounded the Gamecocks 35-30, and shot 43.1 percent compared to South Carolina's 41.7 percent.

On the other hand, the Gamecocks had eight blocks and 17 steals. Brandon Wallace had six blocks, including two in the final moments on Winchester, the Sun Belt's player of the year.

Tisby converted a three-point play during the key run to give South Carolina a 51-42 lead with 7:30 left. Rocky Trice followed that with two steals and an offensive rebound to help South Carolina regain control of the game, 57-42 with 6:03 to go.

South Carolina's Antoine Tisby scores against Western Kentucky during the second half of a first-round NIT basketball game Wednesday, March 15, 2006, in Columbia, S.C. South Carolina defeated Western Kentucky 74-55. (AP Photo/Perry Baker)

Winchester went 7-for-18, including four 3s. But it wasn't enough.

The Hilltoppers were outmatched from the start. They had five turnovers in the first five minutes and didn't score their fifth point until Winchester hit a 3 with 12:07 left in the first half.

South Carolina will face the winner of Friday's Florida State-Butler game next week, which will give them some time to rest after a surprising run to the Southeastern Conference tournament championship game.

"Now I feel like we're in the tournament," Odom said. "We'll be fresh next Tuesday."

And the seniors, including Kelley, hope to make another run in the NIT title.

"We're not really thinking about last year and the NIT championship," Kelley said. "We want to win it this year. Last year won't win us any more games."