Oregon Goes to Grant for Game-Winner : Power Forward Scores With 5 Seconds Left to Hand USC 64-62 Loss

Randy Grant, Oregon’s beefy power forward, has run the play countless times in practice.

He takes a pass from guard Frank Johnson, flicks it back to Johnson and cuts to the basket.

Grant ran it flawlessly to produce the winning basket as the Ducks defeated USC, 64-62, on Saturday night at McArthur Court.

With the score tied, 62-62, Grant took the pass from Johnson and posted up underneath the basket. Johnson zipped the ball to Grant, who raced past USC forward Ronnie Coleman and made a layup with 5 seconds left.

“I really wanted the ball down there,” Grant said. “I wanted to win it so badly.

“Coleman was holding me from behind, but Frank made a perfect pass to me.”

It worked just as it had been diagrammed by Oregon Coach Don Monson.

“Of course, we wanted to get the ball to Grant at the end,” Monson said. “He wasn’t about to give up.”

The Trojans had a chance to tie it, but they never got off a shot as Calvin Banks threw an inbounds pass off the fingertips of teammate Anthony Pendleton, who led USC with 21 points.

USC Coach George Raveling, whose team wasted a 10-point lead, was stunned after the loss.

Raveling kept the dressing room door shut for 20 minutes after the game and was subdued when he emerged.

“I don’t know what to say,” Raveling said. “If I say what I really feel inside, 2 days later I’ll regret it.

“‘I thought they’d go to Grant or Johnson at the end. We weren’t committed to stopping them at the end. We gave no help. We weren’t committed to winning.”

Grant was committed to helping Oregon win its first Pacific 10 game of the season.

Grant, who scored 27 points, including his team’s final 6, hit a pair of free throws with 1:01 left to tie it, 62-62. An awful foul shooter last season, he made 4 foul shots in the last 2 minutes.

“I practiced (shooting free throws) all summer, because I shot 35% last season,” Grant said.

If the Trojans had spent more time practicing free throws, they probably would have beaten the Ducks.

Raveling took to covering his face with a towel when the Trojans went to the line, where they made just 9 of 19 free throws (4 of 12 in the second half).

“This is as tough a loss as I’ve had in my coaching career,” Raveling said.

With the score tied at 62-62, Coleman blew a chance to put the Trojans ahead when he missed a pair of free throws with 34 seconds left.

“I don’t know how much more time we can put in on our foul shooting,” said Raveling, whose team is 7-7 overall and 0-3 in the conference. “I don’t know what else to do.

“If it’s not foul shooting, it’s turnovers. What’s so sad about our season is that we’ve had our hands on the steering wheel of our destiny in every game but we’ve proved that we don’t know how to drive.”

The Trojans were cruising along with a 10-point lead, 39-29, midway through the second half, when they folded like a cheap lawn chair.

The game was a matchup of the only winless teams in the Pac-10. In its conference opener, Oregon (6-6, 1-1) was beaten by 31 points by UCLA. The Trojans began their conference season with losses to California and Oregon State.

Raveling, who had altered his starting lineup in the 64-55 loss to Oregon State Thursday, inserting guard Rich Grande for Duane Cooper and forward Banks for Chris Moore, returned to his original lineup against Oregon.

Raveling wanted to wake up Cooper and Moore. Cooper, who had gotten off to a good start, hadn’t been playing well lately, and Moore had been late for practice.

Both played well Saturday as the Trojans took a 31-22 lead at halftime. Although “the Pit” is usually so wild that the scoreboard swings back and forth on its cables, USC silenced the crowd.

Trailing, 10-5, in the first half after the Ducks scored 6 straight points, the Trojans put together a 15-3 run as Pendleton hit a pair of 3-point shots.

Trojan Notes

The Trojans play UCLA Thursday night at the Sports Arena. . . . USC forward Turi Carter and Oregon forward Alfred Hanson, both freshmen, were teammates at St. Augustine High in New Orleans.