3 USC Guards Are Too Many for Augusta : Basketball: Trojans win, 90-63, for fifth victory in a row. Miner scores 27.

With its new three-guard attack, USC won its fifth consecutive basketball game and moved a step closer to its Jan. 2 showdown with UCLA by defeating Augusta College of Georgia, 90-63, Saturday at the Sports Arena before 1,885.

USC is 6-1, its best start since 1975. The Trojans’ five-game winning streak is their longest since their 1985 Pacific 10 championship team.

Sophomore guard Harold Miner led USC with 27 points and eight rebounds, but he had plenty of support in senior forward Ronnie Coleman, who scored 18 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and had five steals.

With Miner teamed with Robert Pack and Duane Cooper in the backcourt, “people are definitely taking us seriously now,” Miner said. “They just look at our record and see how we are doing.”

USC’s biggest victories have been on the road against Colorado State and Notre Dame. But, after games against Harvard and Brooklyn College in the Long Beach Holiday Classic Dec. 28 and 29, the Trojans’ real test will come against UCLA.

“Yes, people are talking about our game with UCLA somewhat,” Miner said, which is something USC Coach George Raveling is worried about.

“I told the players that our next three games (including Augusta) are our most dangerous,” Raveling said. “I wasn’t trying to be a Lou Holtz, but when everybody thinks that games are in the bag . . . those games turn out to be the dangerous ones.”

Augusta, of the Big South Conference, is 1-8 and has played one home game. Against USC, the Jaguars shot 36% and committed 28 turnovers.

USC opened an 11-3 lead, and the Jaguars did not score their first point until nearly four minutes had elapsed.

USC’s three-guard lineup caused problems with its quickness and aggressiveness. Featuring a full-court, trapping defense, the Trojans capitalized on five early turnovers and two blocked shots by freshman forward Mark Boyd to take a 22-8 lead with 11:23 left in the first half.

Augusta did not reach double figures until 9:50 was left in the first half. The Jaguars made a run behind the scoring of Keenan Mann, who had 12 points in the first half, and Jermaine Henegan, who scored eight, to cut USC’s lead to 29-22 with 5:43 remaining in the half.

That was as close as Augusta would get. USC closed out the half by outscoring the Jaguars, 14-6, to take a 43-28 halftime lead, Miner scoring 17 first-half points.

In the second half, Cooper, who was in foul trouble for most of the game and scored only two points, played a key defensive role as USC opened a 20-point lead.

“The pressure we put on in the second half created a lot of easy baskets for us,” Cooper said.

Augusta’s shooting was so poor in the second half, there was a four-minute stretch when USC made one of nine shots but outscored the Jaguars by a point.

“I think it was a combination of defense and poor ballhandling,” Raveling said of Augusta’s turnovers. “We did a good job of rallying to the ball.”

Coleman, who made three of nine first-half shots, scored seven points in the first five minutes after the break and finished with 11 points in the half.

“I was a little shabby in the first half,” he said. “But, in the second half, I stopped rushing my shots and used better judgment.”