Defense Missing in USC Basketball Game

Monday night’s intrasquad game among members of the 1985-86 USC men’s basketball team featured what Coach Stan Morrison called “the finest freshman class since Gus Williams.”

However, one thing sadly lacking was defense.

The White team outran the Red team to record a 119-102 victory in front of 1,100 in Hutton Sports Center at Chapman College in Orange.

“Any resemblance between defense, living or dead, and this game, is purely coincidental,” Morrison said with a grin.

Morrison had a reason to smile. Though he thinks his defense could use a little work, Morrison was impressed by freshman Tom Lewis, who scored 30 points to lead the White team. Lewis made 14 of 19 shot attempts before leaving the game midway through the second half with leg cramps.

Lewis, making his USC debut, admitted he was a bit nervous. But the experience wasn’t totally foreign to Lewis. Santa Ana’s Mater Dei High School, which Lewis led to two Southern Section championships in three seasons, played some of its home games at Hutton Sports Center in the past two seasons.

In the first half, forward Derrick Dowell, who scored 40 points, and Lewis took turns carrying their teams offensively.

Lewis scored eight points in a three-minute span, the last coming on an uncontested reverse-dunk, to give White a 36-26 lead with 6:26 left in the half. Dowell answered by scoring 12 of Red’s next 18 points as it tied the score, 46-46, with 54 seconds left in the half.

White guard Brad Winslow made an eight-foot bank-shot with 39 seconds left to give his team a 48-46 halftime lead.