USC Gets Win of the Month, 79-64 : After Seven Pac-10 Losses in Row, Trojans Beat UCLA

During USC’s monthlong struggle for a victory, it seemed the other shoe would always fall on the Trojans at some point during their games.

USC couldn’t protect a lead and eventually found a way to lose.

Coach Stan Morrison said his team has been struggling to get over that hump, and the Trojans finally did Saturday afternoon with a 79-64 win over UCLA at the Sports Arena before a crowd of 8,479.

By winning, USC ended a seven-game Pacific 10 losing streak and got a split with UCLA for the season.

The Trojans hadn’t won since Jan. 25, when they beat Arkansas, 88-74. UCLA then beat USC, 66-56, at Pauley Pavilion, and the Trojans had been losing ever since--until Saturday.

It was an unusual game inasmuch as USC was in control most of the way and UCLA didn’t seriously threaten the Trojans with a late run.

USC led, 34-24, at halftime and maintained leads of 10 to 12 points most of the second half. And when the Bruins cut USC’s lead to seven at 64-57, freshman guard Bo Kimble hit what would have been a three-point shot in the NBA, just beating the 45-second clock.

Kimble made his 25-footer with 3:18 remaining, and that was the game. USC just padded its advantage from the free-throw line the rest of the way and finished with 21-of-23 foul shooting. UCLA made 10 of its 16 free throws.

“I’ve been shooting a lot of three-point shots in practice, and the coach has been giving me a look as if to say, ‘Why are you practicing those shots?’ ” Kimble said, referring to Morrison. “I didn’t realize the clock was winding down, but our bench kept yelling, ‘Shoot, Shoot.’

“So I did. I was one step or so behind the three-point line (for Clipper games), and I took the shot to make it.”

UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard said that Kimble’s shot was the back-breaker. “We got the shot clock down to a second, and he stood back there and dropped it in,” Hazzard said.

It was a different type of USC team that beat UCLA. This one got the ball inside, controlled the boards and controlled the tempo.

Junior forward Derrick Dowell came out of a five-game slump to score 16 points and grab 10 rebounds while playing 32 minutes.

Hank Gathers, a freshman center who was Kimble’s teammate at Dobbins Tech in Philadelphia, got 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting and pulled down 8 rebounds.

Kimble, who had lost some confidence in his outside shooting, responded Saturday with 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting.

Meanwhile, the UCLA offense, especially in the second half, consisted for the most part of forward Reggie Miller, the leading scorer in the Pac-10.

Miller, with his rainbow jump shots from 25-foot range, kept the Bruins in contact with the Trojans. He got 21 of UCLA’s 40 points in the second half and finished with 29 points, making 11 of 17 shots.

USC stayed out of the conference cellar by winning. The Trojans are 4-10 in the league and 10-14 overall. UCLA is 7-7 in the Pac-10 and 12-11 overall.

“I thought our effort was outstanding,” Morrison said. “We got the ball inside very well. We also seemed to minimize their fast break and make them play more offense than they wanted to. I was really proud of our team.”

According to his players, Morrison delivered a fiery pregame talk, saying the Trojans should start playing together as a team and emphasizing the importance of the UCLA game, especially for the seniors.

“Our freshmen understand far better now what the USC-UCLA series is all about,” Morrison said. “It’s not because we won but what they’ve assimilated from people after the first game.”

Kimble agreed, saying: “I had that rivalry feeling today.”

And, when Gathers walked off the court, he looked at UCLA freshman guard Pooh Richardson and said: “We’re one up now, Pooh.”

Actually, their crosstown L.A. rivalry is tied at 1-1, but Richardson played for Ben Franklin High in Philadelphia, a loser to Gathers’ and Kimble’s Dobbins Tech in their senior year.

Richardson was a factor in last month’s USC-UCLA meeting, scoring 16 points. He got only 8 points Saturday on 3-of-9 shooting but contributed 7 assists.

Tom Lewis, USC’s leading scorer with a previous 18-point-a-game average, wasn’t much of a factor, either. He was only 1 for 8 from the field, got into foul trouble in the second half and finished with 4 points.

But Morrison cited Lewis for some intangible aspects in the overall team concept.

Dowell didn’t start for the second game in a row because he was late to a team meeting early in the week. He was also coming off a five-game slump in which he had been averaging only 10 points and 3.8 rebounds.

But he was the old Dowell Saturday, slashing inside for rebounds and short jump shots.

Dowell also gave a stirring rendition of the national anthem before the game in concert with his sister, Cheryl, who plays for Cal State Long Beach.

“We decided to attack them instead of them attacking us,” Dowell said. “Our game plan was the same as it has always been, but some players decided to pass the ball inside. If we had done that earlier, we would have been a much better team.”

Dowell wouldn’t identify those who had been remiss on their passing. But he had previously been mildly critical of the freshmen as a group for not always adhering to team principles.

Gathers agreed with Dowell that USC is a much better team when the ball goes inside. “And we worked hard to do that today,” he said.

USC outrebounded UCLA, 35-24, but by a 15-6 margin on the offensive boards.

“UCLA was so conscious of our inside game that it opened up our outside shooting,” Gathers said. “A lot of tension was relieved for us today.”

The Bruins had their last lead at 4-2 in the opening minute. The Trojans pulled away to 12-4, the Bruins caught them at 12-12 and then the Trojans spurted for a 10-point halftime lead.

It was all USC in the second half, until the Bruins made it reasonably close at 64-57 on Miller’s driving layup with 4:06 left.

Then, Kimble put up a Reggie Miller-type shot and made it.

“I had a conversation yesterday with David Spencer (USC assistant coach) and my girl friend, Lisa Harris, and that got me hyped up for the game,” Kimble said. “They said that I wasn’t playing with confidence and that I was just going through the motions. I went into the game without second-guessing myself.”

Morrison had been naturally worried about his slumping team, and he said he hadn’t been getting much sleep lately.

“But you just work hard to try to get over that hump,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of counseling sessions lately, and my fees aren’t that high.”

UCLA-USC Notes USC center Rod Keller also made a contribution Saturday. He had eight rebounds, six in the first half. . . . UCLA shot 50.9% for the game to USC’s 47.5%, but the difference in scoring was at the foul line. . . . USC Coach Stan Morrison evened his record to 7-7 against UCLA and has a 3-1 edge over UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard. As an All-American player in the ‘60s, Hazzard was 7-2 against USC. . . .Derrick Dowell seems to rise to the occasion against the Bruins. His last double-double game (points, rebounds) was against UCLA Jan. 29 when he scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. . . . USC had nine steals Saturday, three each by Dowell and Hank Gathers. . . . USC and UCLA resume Pac-10 play Monday night at home, meeting California and Stanford, respectively.