Friend Hits a 65-Footer, and USC Wins, 89-79 : Lewis Leads With 24 Points, and Dowell Gets 19 in Victory Over Loyola (Md.)

About the only thing USC proved in an 89-79 win over Loyola (Md.) Friday night at the Sports Arena is that guard Larry Friend is deadly from anywhere beyond half-court.

Friend made his only shot of the game, swishing a 65-footer at the end of the first half. That was about the night’s only thrill for the crowd of 3,765.

Friend said he’s tried a similar shot only once before, in high school, and made that one, too, in a summer league game at Long Beach City College.

“I was just trying to get the ball upcourt quick and let it go,” Friend said. “I’m 2 for 2. Now I just wish I could run the offense the same way.”

USC Coach Stan Morrison ran 13 players into this game, which was all but over halfway through the first half, when the Trojans opened a 29-14 lead.

Loyola, which didn’t start a player bigger than 6-5, made only 29.7% of its shots in the first half, but actually outrebounded the taller Trojans, 24-18, in the half and 51-40 for the game.

“We did a real poor job of blocking out,” Friend said. “They murdered us on the boards. We have a tough one coming up with Oregon State; if we don’t block out, we’re going to get killed.”

USC finally got inside game going in the second half, opening a 21-point lead before Morrison cleared his bench. Loyola kept it close during garbage time, with Coach Mark Amatucci actually calling timeout with two seconds left and his team down by a dozen.

Freshman forward Tom Lewis, who had 10 points in the first 10 minutes, scored 24 points in 28 minutes and led USC in scoring for the sixth straight game. Forward Derrick Dowell had 19 points, 11 rebounds and a team-high nine assists.

“Derrick’s passing was the single-most outstanding feature of our team play tonight,” said Morrison, who found little else to be excited about after the Trojans evened their record at 4-4. Loyola is 4-2.

“I think we were sloppy, tired, listless--our play was very typical of a team in the throes of final exams. A couple of kids (Dowell, he said, was one) couldn’t even make our pregame talk because of finals. They made the meal, though.”

Morrison, who had been critical of his team’s post play after a loss to Wyoming earlier this week, said he was encouraged by the play of center Rod Keller, who finished with 13 points and 8 rebounds.

“But we have to improve our team defense,” he said, “and our blocking out was nonexistent on the boards. We’ll be smashed by a team like Oregon State if we don’t block out.”

David Gately led Loyola with 23 points.