USC again stumbles down stretch in 59-54 loss to Arizona State

Reporting from Tempe, Ariz. — 

That last five minutes of a basketball game, that span most coaches call “winning time,” has become losing time for USC.

The Trojans play well until that point: In all 17 of the Trojans’ league games this season, they have either led or been tied in the second half.

But, as was showcased yet again in Thursday’s 59-54 loss to Arizona State, when the clock rolls to winning time, the Trojans crumble like clockwork.

“We’re not closing out, we’re not paying attention to the details, and it has cost us,” forward Marcus Johnson said.

Thursday’s loss provided a solid case study.

Trailing by three points with 2 minutes 10 seconds left, the Trojans fouled Arizona State’s Ty Abbott on a three-point attempt. Abbott made all three free throws.

Trailing by two with 41 seconds left, Marcus Simmons committed what he called a “stupid foul” against the Sun Devils’ Derek Glasser. Glasser made both free throws.

And, the coup de grace, on USC’s next possession after Glasser’s attempts, the Trojans’ Leonard Washington barreled down the lane and dunked in Johnson’s layup attempt, causing the basket to be waved off for offensive goaltending.

Johnson made a three-pointer to keep it close after that, but winning time ran out and USC (16-13 overall, 8-9 in Pacific 10 Conference play) was on the wrong end, points-wise, again.

“We had our chances tonight,” USC Coach Kevin O’Neill said. “You just can’t do some of the things we did down the stretch when you have a small margin for error anyway.”

The game was a defensive struggle, as it was when USC beat Arizona State in January, 47-37. USC’s top scorers — Mike Gerrity and Simmons — each had 11 points. The difference-maker was ASU’s Rihards Kuksiks, who scored 24 points and made six of ASU’s 11 three-pointers.

Arizona State (21-9, 11-6) kept its goal of winning a share of the league title alive. The Sun Devils need to beat UCLA on Saturday and have California lose to Stanford.

And if it was questioned how USC would play with no tangible goal to play for, then Sun Devils Coach Herb Sendek provided an answer: “Even when guys play shirts and skins and go across town, they still play hard,” he said. “They have pride and want to do their best. We didn’t get anything easy.”

The Trojans’ final game this season comes Saturday in Tucson. A fitting end to be filled with soap-opera drama, no doubt: The Wildcats have three of the five recruits who left USC last summer when former coach Tim Floyd resigned; O’Neill was unexpectedly fired from his job as an Arizona assistant two years ago after he was pegged as the successor to longtime coach Lute Olson.

“Our guys [are] not sitting around thinking, ‘Well, let’s go in there and win one for the Gipper,’” O’Neill said.

Yet, that speech couldn’t hurt....

“No, no Gipper speeches,” he said, laughing. “I’m almost out of speeches, but there are no Gipper speeches in me at all. Our guys would be like, ‘Who the [heck] is the Gipper?’”

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