USC Hits Bottom in 69-62 Loss to Arizona State

There was a time not so long ago when USC’s basketball team had the lofty ambition of finishing in sixth place in the Pacific 10 race.

Since then, the Trojans have plummeted and they hit bottom Thursday night at the Sports Arena, losing to Arizona State, 69-62.

USC now shares last place in the conference with Arizona State as each team has a 3-10 conference record.

The Trojans blew an early 13-point lead in the first half and then struggled to catch up most of the second half.

USC came close, trailing, 56-55, with 4 1/2 minutes left, but then George Raveling’s team began to falter.

ASU guard Bobby Thompson provided a cushion for his team with a three-point basket with 3:10 left and, when he made two free throws with 1:49 to play, the Sun Devils were in front, 63-57.

The Trojans still had an outside chance of sending the game into overtime, if not winning in regulation, when Derrick Dowell made a three-point basket with 1:36 remaining.

And, when Thompson turned the ball over, USC needed only another three-point field goal for a tie.

But the Trojans never got that opportunity. The ball was slapped away from freshman forward Bob Erbst, Arizona State got possession, starting a parade to the free throw line.

The Sun Devils made six free throws in the final 43 seconds to put the game away. When ASU wasn’t camping at the foul line, USC guards Rich Grande and Brad Winslow were missing on desperation three-point shots.

Dowell, USC’s All-Pacific 10 forward, tried to carry the team as he usually does. He scored 25 points, making 9 of 12 shoots, and grabbed 7 rebounds.

But Dowell couldn’t offset his team’s 19 turnovers. He committed four, while Erbst had five and Grande and Winslow three each.

So the Trojans, who have now lost four straight conference games, are 8-14 overall and the prospect of winning many more games before the regular season ends is bleak.

USC will play UCLA and Arizona, two of the conference’s best teams, Saturday afternoon and Tuesday night at the Sports Arena and then will go to the Northwest for games with the Oregon schools.

Arizona State doesn’t have a strong front line, but the Sun Devils have three of the best guards in the conference in Thompson, Steve Beck and Arthur Thomas. They were responsible for for 47 of ASU’S 69 points with Beck leading the way with 18 points.

Arizona State had its best shooting game of the conference season, hitting 55.8%. USC, the worst shooting team in the Pac-10, wasn’t shabby, either, shooting 48%--but it wasn’t enough to offset the turnovers.

Raveling seemed puzzled why his team fell apart against ASU, a team the Trojans beat in Tempe last month.

“I’m really in kind of a quandry on what happened,” he said. “I think it’s more mental than physical. We only played five minutes of enthusiastic basketball and that manifested itself in our play. We started off with enthusiasm, then we felt we were out of our comfort zone and stopped.

“The keys were our inability to play good transition defense and we turned the ball over 14 times in the first 10 minutes of the second half.

“We don’t have a lot of time to reflect on this game. In less than 48 hours we have to play the best team (UCLA) in the conference. And even if they’re not the best team, it’s a vital games for us.”

USC shot only 42.3% in the second half and even though Raveling is painfully aware that he has a poor-shooting team, it still gnaws at him.

“Never in my life have I been around a team that has sustained as poor shooting as this one has,” Raveling said. “the thing that eats away at you is that we’re not taking bad shots. We get shots most of the time with nobody guarding us. We just can’t put them home. We must make those if we want to have a chance to win.”

Erbst was only 3 for 8, same as Winslow, while Grande was 1 for 5.

ASU Coach Steve Patterson, the former UCLA star, said he found a formula for victory--stop coaching.

“I was over-coaching early in the game,” he said. “When you’re struggling, you tend to pull out all stops. I just stopped coaching and let them play. We played a good man defense and executed well on offense. USC was getting to us in the press and that’s when I stopped coaching.”

While he was coaching, USC ran off to a 20-7 lead with 12:39 to play in the first half. Dowell provided the Trojans with the 13-point advantage with a thunderous slam.

Then, the game slipped away from USC. With ASU’s guards providing most of the offense, the game was tied at halftime, 34-34.

It was still even at 42-42 early in the second half before the Sun Devils went on a nine-point blitz. The Trojans were trying to catch up the rest of the way.