Trojans Defeat Aztecs

Marty Dow kept putting up the shots. San Diego State would bring the ball down, get it inside to Dow, and let their 7-foot-1 center go to work.

There was just one problem. You’ve heard of those nights when a player feels unconscious, when it seems like he will never miss again? This wasn’t one of those times for Dow.

It was more like a 40-minute nightmare. The harder Dow tried, the worse it got. And by the time USC defeated SDSU, 77-66, in front of 2,851 in the Los Angeles Sports Arena Tuesday, you wouldn’t have blamed him if he set fire to the final statistics right there in the locker room.

He missed inside shots. He missed outside shots. He missed them when he was open, and he missed them when he was covered. One of those nights. It’s a wonder he didn’t miss the team bus home.

He made three of 17 shots. He was two for 11 at halftime. As the night wore on, it only got longer.

“I tried to force a lot of shots I shouldn’t have taken,” he said. “I was trying too hard to put points on the board.

“I tried to take better shots in the second half. USC didn’t allow it with their interior defense.”

Said USC Coach George Raveling: “I was watching the (SDSU-North Carolina) film. Dow scored well, and we felt the reason was they fronted him and San Diego threw the ball over to him. So we played behind him and gave help. It played into our hands. He hardly ever threw the ball back out, and he threw the ball up off-balanced.”

Dow wasn’t the only Aztec off on this night. SDSU (0-3) shot only 35%. USC (3-1), meanwhile, made 49% of its shots.

Still, the Aztecs were able to hang close in the first half--they trailed 33-31 at halftime--and prevent what could have been a blowout in the second.

A key moment came with 14:26 to play in the second half and the Aztecs trailing, 47-35. USC’s Robert Pack drove the lane, put up a shot and was fouled hard by Dow. The officials ruled it an intentional foul, and Pack made both free throws. Suddenly, it was 51-35--and Dow’s night was getting even worse.

“I put my arms up in the air when he shot, and then I dropped them to turn around and block out,” Dow said. “Next thing I knew, they called it an intentional foul.”

Said SDSU Coach Jim Brandenburg: “I though it was a terrible call. I couldn’t see it really well, but I haven’t seen anything like that called in that area.”

Eventually, USC led by as much as 19 in the second half.

SDSU’s woes weren’t limited to Dow. The Aztecs (0-3) have nine new faces this season, and they are still learning how to win. Dow and Keith Balzer have been bothered by the flu, and guards Chris McKinney and Arthur Massey have been troubled with nagging ankle injuries.

And Massey, SDSU’s floor leader, turned his left ankle in the first half and saw limited duty the rest of the way.

“Without Arthur, we didn’t seem to quite have that cohesiveness,” Brandenburg said.

USC, as usual, was led by its trio of Pack, Ronnie Coleman and Harold Miner. Coleman, a three-time USC most valuable player, had 19 points; Pack had 16; and Miner, the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year last year, had 14.