Penn Spurts to a 63-54 Victory Over USC : Trojans Blow an Eight-Point Lead and Lose for Third Straight Time

If nothing else, USC’s first-ever appearance at the University of Pennsylvania’s tradition-laden Palestra will serve as a lesson for the Trojans.

A lesson of how far they have to go if they are to compete for the Pacific 10 championship they won last season.

“We have a long, long way to go to become a good team,” USC Coach Stan Morrison said after watching his team blow an eight-point lead in the last eight minutes and lose to Penn, 63-54. The loss was the third in a row for the Trojans (1-3).

“We don’t have any confidence right now. We’re just fishing, scratching our heads,” Morrison said after watching his graduation-decimated team come back from a 102-68 shellacking at the hands of fourth-ranked Syracuse four nights ago to play what he called “our best defense of the year” in the first half and then play “dead in the water over the last 10 minutes of the game.”

“I don’t know how many points we scored during those last 10 minutes,” Morrison said. “I’m just astounded by our lack of offensive aggressiveness at the end. We virtually stopped playing offense.”

For the record, USC scored 15 points during the game’s last 10 minutes--a perfectly respectable total considering the low final score. However, in the seven minutes following Larry Friend’s layup with 7:57 to play, the Trojans were outscored, 21-6. The run enabled Penn (2-0) to turn a 44-36 deficit into a 57-50 lead that was never really threatened.

Three baskets from sharpshooting forward Chris Elzey (team-highs of 20 points and 8 rebounds) and three-point plays by forwards Phil Pitts (11 points) and Bruce Lefkowitz (15 points, 6 rebounds) keyed a Quakers’ rally that was aided when USC’s Derrick Dowell picked up his fourth and fifth fouls over a span of five seconds. Dowell, a sophomore forward who entered the game as the Trojans’ leading scorer and rebounder, had 12 points and a game-high 12 rebounds when he departed on Pitts’ three-point play that cut USC’s lead to 46-45 with 5:18 to play.

“It took awhile to get there,” Penn Coach Tom Schneider said. “But I’d rather finish well than start well.”

It’s a notion that would most certainly be seconded by USC freshman Tom Lewis. The 6-7 forward from Santa Ana Mater Dei, who came into the game averaging 18 points, connected on 5 of 9 shots from the field during a 14-point first half but was held to 6 points on 2-of-8 shooting the rest of the way.

“They played a little more zone defense in the second half,” said Lewis, who also grabbed 10 rebounds before fouling out with 13 seconds remaining. “They kept pushing us out further and further. It was tough to get a good shot off. They outplayed us; they deserved to win.”

Morrison, however, wasn’t convinced.

“We had an unusually high number of turnovers (18), especially when you consider that it was a low-scoring game,” he said. “We didn’t take advantage when we spread the court. I don’t know how many times we charged or stepped on the line.”

The costliest of those errors belonged to Lewis. USC called time out just after Penn had taken a 49-46 lead with 3:45 remaining. With the home crowd still buzzing, Lewis worked his way into the middle of Penn’s zone for a layup, but was called for traveling.

The Trojans had another chance to cut their deficit to one after 6-11 center Ivan Verbeckt blocked his fourth shot of the game. But Penn guard Perry Bromwell stepped in front of the outlet pass and was fouled. After Bromwell hit the front end of a one-and-one to make the score 50-46 with 2:57 to play, USC twice cut the margin to two points but never could tie the score.

“I’m looking forward to getting back home and getting over this thing,” Lewis said. “We have a long way to go before we turn ourselves around, but I think we can do it.”