Trojans Win Ugly but at Least They Win : College basketball: USC plays throwaway with Washington but won’t throw back 73-65 victory.

If Thursday night’s USC-Washington game had been played at Venice Beach instead of the Sports Arena, they would have quickly stopped it and picked new teams.

But despite playing out of sync, the Trojans hung on for a 73-65 win to end a four-game losing streak.

The Huskies had 20 turnovers, and the Trojans threw the ball away 15 times.

“They were silly turnovers,” Washington Coach Lynn Nance said. “We would throw it off some guy’s foot.”

Said USC Coach George Raveling: “It wasn’t a game you’d nominate for the Hall of Fame, but at this time of the year it’s important that you can win these type of games. We didn’t look as good as we’ve been looking but the important thing was we found a way to win when we weren’t playing very well.”

The Trojans (10-15, 5-12 in the Pacific 10 Conference) are jockeying for position with Washington (12-14, 5-12) and Arizona State (13-13, 5-12) for the Pac-10 tournament.

USC can finish seventh by beating Washington State in Saturday’s season-finale if UCLA beats Washington Sunday and Oregon beats Arizona State Saturday.

If USC loses to Washington State, it would avoid Arizona by finishing eighth or ninth, putting it in the same bracket as Oregon State. USC matches up much better against the Beavers. The Trojans had a 22-point lead against Oregon State before losing, 98-94, in overtime last week.

“There’s just no way of avoiding (Arizona) other than losing (to Washington State) and (losing) is not an alternative I’m willing to accept,” Raveling said.

After scoring five points in the first half, USC guard Harold Miner scored 15 in the second half and finished with 20. Forward Ronnie Coleman added 19.

“One of the things that I’ve been trying to sell Miner on is that the only thing that counts is what totals he has at the end of the game,” Raveling said. “I got him into a mind-set of not getting frustrated if he doesn’t get the ball early in the game.”

Guard Robert Pack also played well, scoring 17 points and passing off for four assists.

“I thought Pack was outstanding,” Raveling said. “Pack did a great job of getting us some easy baskets on the fast break.”

Playing in his next to last home game, senior center Chris Munk had 11 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots.

USC was leading, 65-61, when Miner sank four consecutive free throws to give the Trojans an eight-point lead. Washington’s Dion Brown hit a jump shot to cut the lead to six and the Huskies turned the final minute into a parade to the free-throw line.

“We got back in it and took it down the stretch, but we missed some shots we had a chance to get down and some free throws,” Nance said.

Eldridge Recasner had 17 points for Washington. Doug Meekins and Brown had 15 apiece.

Raveling has been trying to persuade Miner to work as hard on defense as he does on offense, reminding him that Michael Jordan, Miner’s idol, is one of the best defensive players in the NBA.

Miner took Raveling’s advice to heart, getting two steals and blocking a shot in the first half.