Penrose writes himself a storybook ending

The chants started with 3 minutes 56 seconds left and USC leading California by 18 points.

“We want Penrose!” the USC students shouted.

Coach Tim Floyd wouldn’t budge for another 1 1/2 minutes, and his reluctance was understandable given the unfortunate series of events that befell senior walk-on guard Chris Penrose upon his insertion with 2:23 remaining Saturday at the Galen Center.

He was beaten for a layup by Golden Bears forward Patrick Christopher and then could only watch as Christopher took an alley-oop pass and dunked effortlessly. On the offensive end, with the shot clock winding down, Penrose hoisted a three-point attempt that didn’t even touch the rim.

Then it happened. With the students continually imploring him to shoot every time he touched the ball, Penrose swished a three-pointer from the wing with six seconds remaining to provide the exclamation point on Senior Night during USC’s 84-66 victory.

“As soon as it left my hand I had a good feeling it was going in, and then it went down and I turned around and looked at the student section and I couldn’t really hear anything because the place was so loud,” Penrose said. “My heart was going a mile a minute I was so happy and excited.”

Penrose had played only 10 minutes and scored three points this season before his big finish in his final home game.

“I told him that he can leave this university and tell all of his friends that he’d been given the short end of the stick by the coach,” Floyd said. “He got two minutes tonight and scored three points. If he’d had played 40 minutes, he’d have scored 60 points.”

Penrose received bearhugs from teammates Abdoulaye N’diaye and Daniel Hackett after the game before racing over to the student section and celebrating with the fans.

“It was pretty incredible,” said Penrose, who hopes to remain with the Trojans as a graduate assistant coach next season.

“It was a storybook ending to a little walk-on’s career.”

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Even though walk-on forward Reed Doucette has been with the Trojans for four seasons, he retains a year of eligibility and will return next season because he did not appear in a game his freshman year.

ben.bolch@latimes.com