Stanford Still Has Trojans’ Number, 85-64

Stanford’s basketball program is prospering at the expense of USC.

Last season, the Cardinal won only three league games, but it beat the Trojans twice , preventing USC from winning the Pacific 10 championship outright--instead of sharing it with Washington.

This season, Stanford has swept the Trojans again, beating them, 85-64, Saturday afternoon before a crowd of 5,121 at Maples Pavilion. Stanford beat USC, 61-59, last week at the Sports Arena.

There is some strange chemistry working when these teams get together--and it’s all in Stanford’s favor. The Cardinal now has a string of five straight wins over the Trojans.

“Why have we done so well against USC?” said Stanford Coach Tom Davis, responding to a question. “It’s just a coincidence that we play well against them. We played well against them in Los Angeles. I think they were hurting without Derrick Dowell.”

Davis was kind because it’s doubtful that Dowell’s presence would have made an appreciable difference Saturday. The outcome was virtually settled at halftime, with Stanford leading, 44-28.

Dowell, USC’S junior forward, who is the team’s leading rebounder and No. 2 scorer, was suspended indefinitely Wednesday by Coach Stan Morrison.

The suspension was the result of Dowell telling an assistant coach that he didn’t want to start the second half of Monday night’s game against California because he was in foul trouble.

The Trojans could have used his help on the boards, though. USC was outrebounded, 34-22 (including 15-11 in the first half when Stanford got 9 offensive rebounds).

By losing, USC dropped to 10-16 overall and 4-12 in the Pac-10, sharing the cellar with Oregon. Stanford, which still has a prospect for its first winning conference season since 1965-66, is 8-8 in the Pac-10 and 14-14 overall. USC is the only conference opponent Stanford has swept this season.

After Stanford routed USC, 86-65, here last season, Morrison had his team on the floor practicing for more than an hour, almost to midnight. He also deprived the players of their postgame pizza snack.

Morrison didn’t discipline his players after Saturday’s game. After all, this is a new team and a young one, at that, with four freshmen playing regularly.

“Stanford had a heckuva lot more emotion than we did, and Tom Davis’ team beat us in every department,” Morrison said. “We were soft on defense and we didn’t get back on defense, futilely chasing a rebounder or the outlet pass.”

Morrison pointed out that three of his starters--freshmen Tom Lewis and Bo Kimble and junior Rod Keller--didn’t have a defensive rebound in the first half.

“We just got hammered,” Morrison said, “and we had some very awkward combinations on the court because we got into foul trouble.”

Kimble and Keller each had three fouls at halftime. So Troy Lamar, Ivan Verberckt and Brad Winslow, who haven’t had much playing time recently, were used extensively.

Not only did Stanford dominate the boards, it also shot 55.9% to USC’S 49.1%.

“I knew we were in trouble at halftime when we had 12 turnovers,” Morrison said. USC committed only two more turnovers in the second half, but Morrison’s team had lost contact with Stanford by that time.

Several Stanford players contributed, notably freshman guard Tom Lichti, who finished with 22 points while making 7 of his 11 shots. Freshman center Howard Wright got 12 points, and guard Novian Whitsett pitched in with 16. Forwards Andy Fischer and center Eric Reveno each had eight points.

Lewis led USC with 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting, while center Hank Gathers got 12 points, and Kevin Steward came off the bench to score 10.

“I think Lichti got the short end of the stick in the Pac-10 voting for the Rookie of the Year,” Morrison said. “It should have been a three-way tie. He’s a great player.”

UCLA guard Pooh Richardson and Arizona forward Sean Elliott were named Co-Rookies of the Year.

Morrison was at loss to explain Stanford’s recent domination of his team.

“How do you compare the games, You can’t throw a blanket over all of them,” Morrison said. “Today’s game was much different than the one we played in Los Angeles last week.”

The outcome of that game wasn’t determined until the final seconds. Saturday, Stanford put USC away much earlier.

USC had its last lead at 12-11 with 14 minutes remaining in the first half. Stanford then outscored USC, 10-2, with Lichti getting four points on a follow shot and two free throws.

“We should have stayed in the game but we didn’t,” Lewis said. “We didn’t have a run like we usually do.”