After Slow Start, Elliott Finishes Off USC, 97-69 : Arizona All-American Misses Dunk, Then Gets Hot, Ends Up With 26 Points

Sean Elliott, Arizona’s All-American forward, slithered to the basket for an easy dunk early in the second half of Thursday night’s game against USC.

The crowd held its breath in anticipation of an electrifying jam. Would it be a 360-degree reverse? A double pump?

The ball slipped out of Elliott’s hands and off the rim. Talk about an embarrassing moment.

Elliott more than made up for his mistake.

After missing the dunk, Elliott missed just one other shot, scoring 26 points as the Wildcats defeated the Trojans, 97-69, before 4,387 fans at the Sports Arena.

After a miserable start in which he missed 6 of 8 shots and scored only 7 points in the first half, Elliott scored 19 points in the second half, hitting 5 of 7 shots, including a 3-pointer.

Elliott also had 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 blocked shot in 34 minutes. After Elliott left the game with 5:52 remaining, the crowd headed for the parking lot.

Scoring in double figures for the 89th consecutive game, Elliott moved into second place on the Pac-10 career scoring list, passing UCLA’s Reggie Miller. Elliott has 2,116 points, 210 behind Bruin Lew Alcindor’s record of 2,336.

“Elliott is a great player,” USC Coach George Raveling said. “We tried to make him work as hard as he could to make his shots. We tried to wear him down.”

The Trojans smothered Elliott with a tenacious defense in the first half, double-teaming him whenever he touched the ball. It was so rough that Elliott got a bruise on his forehead. He held an ice bag to his head as he talked to reporters after the game.

“It was really intense,” Elliott said. “They came after me at the beginning of the first half. I didn’t adjust in the second half. I just kept shooting. The shots I was taking were perfect shots and I figured the law of averages had to catch up.”

Center Anthony Cook, the other half of Arizona’s 1-2 punch, scored 23 points and had 7 rebounds.

Cook also said USC played a physical game, accusing the Trojans of dirty tactics.

USC center Chris Munk was ejected after getting too physical with Cook with 10:17 left in the second half.

“He (Munk) was throwing a lot of cheap shots. That’s why he got ejected,” Cook said. “One time I was taking the ball out of bounds and he grabbed my . . .

“My first reaction was to hit him. Then I got to the bench, and (teammate) Bryan David said he (Munk) had got him in the same place.

“I don’t know where he (Munk) got his schooling from. I’ve seen people get dirty, but that’s ridiculous.”

Munk had a different version of what happened.

Informed of Cook’s comment, Munk said: “He said that? I didn’t grab him there. That’s bogus. I don’t remember anything like that taking place.”

Munk said he was ejected for setting an illegal pick on Cook.

“I just stepped up to set a pick and he ran right into me,” Munk said. “The ref made the call he thought was necessary in his eyes, and I can’t argue with it.”

Raveling said: “I don’t think there was anything personal. I didn’t see the play, but the referee was adamant that he (Munk) was out. There wasn’t much I could say. I don’t know what happened.”

The ninth-ranked Wildcats are 13-2 overall and 7-1 in the Pac-10. After losing its fifth straight game, USC fell to 7-9 and 0-5.

Although USC stayed with Arizona for the first 16 minutes of the game, rallying within a point, the Wildcats closed out the first half with a 15-6 spurt and wound up embarrassing the Trojans.

“I’m puzzled,” Raveling said. “In the first half, I thought we played good basketball except for our foul shooting. In the second half, we looked like we came out of the locker room and put on different uniforms.

“I’m greatly disappointed that we didn’t come out with more enthusiasm in the second half, particularly since we were playing against a nationally ranked team.”

Forward Ronnie Coleman led USC with 20 points, and Chris Moore added 14. Guard Anthony Pendleton, USC’s leading scorer, had just 4 points. He missed 4 of 5 shots.

Trojan Notes

Sean Elliott said he was rattled by Wednesday night’s earthquake. “I almost slept with my shoes on,” he said. “When the earthquake hit, I was ready to jump off the third-floor balcony. It was like a truck hit the hotel.” . . . Laker General Manager Jerry West and and his assistant, Mitch Kupchak, attended the game, presumably to scout Elliott. Arizona plays Villanova Saturday at Tucson in a nationally televised game. . . . USC plays Arizona State Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Sports Arena.