Cougars Come Off Road to Play Trojans

USC’s basketball team will play its first Pacific 10 road game tonight against Washington State, which is reeling after a lengthy trip.

“We played 11 of our first 15 games on the road, and our last road trip was 18 days long, so it all backed up on us last weekend at Cal and Stanford,” WSU Coach Len Stevens said Wednesday.

The Cougars, 7-8 overall, couldn’t handle the Bears and Cardinal in the Bay Area, losing by respective scores of 84-68 and 84-67.

That was hardly an auspicious league start for a team that was expected to contend for the title, since it had more veterans returning than any other team in the conference.

“The tough schedule has contributed to our record along with the fact that we lost Dwayne Scholten for the last six games,” Stevens said. “He was our leading rebounder and most consistent center.”

Scholten, a 6-9, 230-pound transfer from Seattle Pacific, has a stress fracture in his left foot, and Stevens wasn’t sure when Scholten will be able to play again.

So Stevens has had to alter his lineup. He said he is going with three forwards on the front line--6-9 Otis Jennings, 6-7 Joe Wallace and 6-8 Brian Quinett.

Stevens has two 7-footers, Ken Mathia and Todd Anderson, coming off the bench. He said they’ve been inconsistent players this season.

But his backcourt is stable, led by 6-3 Keith Morrison, an All-Pac-10 guard, who is averaging 16.9 points and 5 rebounds a game.

Last year, USC had a remarkable 8-1 record on the road in conference competition, losing only to Stanford. The Trojans were a veteran team that wasn’t intimidated by hostile crowds, and that was the main factor in USC’s drive to the co-championship of the Pac-10.

But the Trojans aren’t that experienced now. Coach Stan Morrison used two freshmen, guard Bo Kimble and forward Hank Gathers, extensively in a 75-60 win over Oregon last Sunday at the Forum.

Another freshman, guard Tom Lewis, the team’s leading scorer, has been inactive with a badly sprained right ankle. Morrison anticipates that Lewis will play tonight but probably not start.

“Washington State is the hungriest team in America right now,” said Morrison, referring to the Cougars’ problems on the road.

Trojan Notes USC is 6-5 overall and 1-1 in the Pac-10. . . . Tonight’s game will start at 7:30. USC will play Washington Saturday in a televised game (Channel 2, 1 p.m.) at Seattle. . . . The Trojans swept the Cougars last season, winning, 69-62, at Cal State Dominguez Hills and, 64-58, at Pullman. . . . Stan Morrison on forward Derrick Dowell, who is averaging 16.6 points and 9.1 rebounds a game: “Derrick is such a versatile player, and I expect a lot from him. There is very little he can’t do. He rebounds, scores, makes assists, blocks shots and steals the ball.” In the last four games, Dowell has scored 71 points, taken down 39 rebounds, and has had 17 assists, 13 steals and 5 blocked shots. . . . WSU’s Joe Wallace, the second-leading scorer in the Pac-10 last season, virtually disappeared against Stanford (five fouls in seven minutes) and Cal (no points).