Irish Inside Strength Overcomes USC : Trojans: Ten-point halftime lead blown when Ellis keys 86-81 victory by Notre Dame.

How big is Notre Dame’s LaPhonso Ellis?

“He’s got a Mack truck for a tail,” USC Coach George Raveling said.

At least Raveling got the number of that truck. Ellis, No. 20, scored 27 points Saturday night--19 of them in the second half of an 86-81 victory over USC.

The Irish sent a two-truck convoy at USC in the second half at the Sports Arena, where Ellis and Keith Robinson spent more time in the paint than a brush.

“We don’t like to have anybody ride us on out of there down low,” Robinson said.

Combined, Ellis and Robinson are 13 feet 6 inches tall and weigh 475 pounds. Stacked together, they totaled 41 points, 19 rebounds, three blocks, two steals and made Notre Dame (6-4) a winner on the road for the first time in five games.

The Trojans (5-5) lost despite 26 points from Ronnie Coleman, who fouled out with USC leading, 76-74, and 4:11 remaining.

“Losing him certainly didn’t help,” Raveling said.

And it also didn’t help that the Trojans could score just one field goal in the final 8:32. From then, USC’s only points were nine free throws and a tip-in by Chris Munk.

That offensive move by Munk, who had eight points and five rebounds while doing body bumps with Ellis and Robinson, tied the score, 78-78. USC tied again it again, 80-80, when Harold Miner made two free throws with 1:40 left.

Then Ellis made his biggest shot of the game. Standing near the free-throw line and with his back to the basket, he took a pass from Joe Frederick, turned and sent a soft jump shot rattling through the rim.

“Joe just told me to shoot it,” Ellis said. “Honestly, I didn’t know what the score was. I just put it up.”

When it went in, Notre Dame had its fourth and final lead of the night, 82-80, with 1:04 left.

Calvin Banks, a 28.6% free-throw shooter, made the front end of a one-and-one, but, when he missed the second, Notre Dame was in control, 82-81.

The Irish worked the clock down to 16 seconds. USC’s Robert Pack fouled Jamere Jackson, who made both free throws for an 84-81 lead. The Trojans ran the ball upcourt and called time out with 10 seconds left.

“We were concerned about them getting the ball to Miner,” Phelps said.

But Raveling had decided to use Miner as a decoy.

He put Rodney Chatman into the game to join Miner and Pack as three-point threats. Pack threw the ball inbounds to Munk, who passed back to Pack. With six seconds left, Pack shot an airball from just beyond the three-point stripe near the top of the circle.

Raveling said Chatman was supposed to shoot the ball, but that he didn’t get a screen.

“If people had listened to what I told them in the huddle . . . it was so obvious that Chatman was going to be open,” Raveling said.

Instead, the Irish got away with one even though they trailed, 48-38, at the half.

A nine-point flurry that lasted only 59 seconds got the Trojans going in the first half. A three-point play and a free throw by Coleman (who had 13 points by halftime) and five points by Miner in 19 seconds put USC ahead, 15-6.

When Pack poked a loose ball toward Miner, who threw a pass half the length of the court to Pack for a breakaway dunk, the Trojans had their biggest lead, 21-10.

USC, which shot 67% for the half, found itself in real trouble when the Irish began to assert themselves inside to begin the second half. Notre Dame made 18 of 25 shots (72%) in the second half, all but three within the key.

Short jump shots by Ellis and Robinson on Notre Dame’s first two possessions cut the USC lead to 48-42.

“Suddenly, it was a game again,” Raveling said.

Ellis had a three-point play to make it 51-45, and another inside basket by Robinson made it 51-47. The Irish were flexing their inside strength.

“As long as we get that ball inside, we’re going to be all right,” Phelps said. “We can go inside. We just haven’t been doing it. We have to go inside because that’s where we’re good.”

Miner finished with 20 points, but he had only one field goal in the second half in which USC made just nine of 23 shots (37%).

Raveling blamed a too-conservative offense for a 33-point output in the second half, which wouldn’t have been so bad if Notre Dame had not scored 48. But he was pleased that his team played hard, which he said they did not do in an 89-72 loss to UCLA last week.

“After the UCLA game, at least we gained some self-respect,” Raveling said. “The UCLA game was not an indication of how we can play. Psychologically, with Arizona coming up, it was good for our team to come back from the UCLA game like this.”