USC Wins, Avoids Need for Heroics

USC, a loser in its previous three games when it was unable to make the plays needed to win in the final seconds, spared itself the trouble Saturday in an 85-67 victory over Stanford at the Sports Arena.

The Trojans took Stanford out early, beating the Cardinal before 3,471 to avoid an 0-5 start in Pacific 10 Conference play.

“I felt good about this game from the moment that Stanford beat UCLA,” USC Coach George Raveling said of the Cardinal’s nationally televised upset of the seventh-ranked Bruins Wednesday night.

He had good reason.

Stanford hasn’t swept a series in Southern California since the 1941-42 season.

“Years ago, when the late George Allen was coaching the Redskins, he used to have a column in the Washington Post, and one time he wrote a column on upsets,” Raveling said. “And one thing he pointed out I’ve never forgotten: ‘The hardest game to play is the game after an upset (victory).’

“Your thinking is all in reverse. There isn’t one person who went up to those guys from Stanford and said, ‘Beat USC.’ Everybody was saying, ‘Great win against the Bruins.’ So, their vision, their thinking was all in the past. I thought we had a great psychological edge.”

It showed.

In ending a four-game losing streak and improving to 9-5 overall and 1-4 in conference games, the Trojans outshot Stanford, 44.8% to 41.5%, and out-rebounded the Cardinal, 45-37.

Stanford (10-6, 3-3) has shot worse only once this season--in an 81-70 loss to George Washington--and had been outrebounded only by North Carolina. The Cardinal, which leads the Pac-10 in rebounding advantage over the opposition, had one offensive rebound in the first half.

“USC was clearly the aggressor,” Stanford Coach Mike Montgomery said. “We just weren’t into it and it showed. We really can’t afford to get beat physically and expect to win. But give credit to USC.

“(USC) played hard and with a lot of confidence. We didn’t get any good performances from anybody. We didn’t beat them in any phase of the game. The league is so good, we have to be ready to play every single game.”

USC’s high-scoring trio of forward Ronnie Coleman and guards Robert Pack and Harold Miner combined for 62 points, with Miner scoring 25, Pack scoring 20 and Coleman getting 17 points and 12 rebounds.

“I really thought Pack was a pivotal force for us offensively,” Raveling said of his senior point guard, who made eight of 13 shots. “He must have gone coast to coast for layups three or four times.

“Robert, in the last game (a 69-66 loss to California Thursday night), he got into pulling up too much. I don’t think he really looked for his shots. He got too preoccupied with getting other people into the offense. We’re not going to win too many games when Pack’s not into the offensive flow.”

When Pack scores at least 15 points, USC is 13-1, including a 5-0 record this season. He hadn’t scored more than 14 in any of USC’s previous six games and scored only 11 in the previous two combined.

Stanford junior center Adam Keefe had 24 points and nine rebounds. But Keefe, who scored a season-high 30 points in the Cardinal’s 89-82 victory over UCLA, scored 15 points after USC took a 14-point second-half lead and made only three of nine free throws.

“Defensively, we did what we thought we could do in there to make it as tough as possible for them to get the ball to Keefe,” Raveling said. “We knew we couldn’t stop him.

“We came into the game saying, ‘We’ll give him his 25, but we cannot let (Deshon) Wingate, (John) Patrick and (Kenny) Ammann have their usual games.’ We knew if we could shut those guys down, we’d have a chance to win.”

Patrick and Ammann, the Cardinal’s senior guards, combined for only 17 points. Wingate, a senior forward, had two points, three rebounds and four turnovers in 25 minutes.

Trojan Notes

Harold Miner, who played with a rubber sleeve on his left knee, made nine of 21 shots, one of five three-point attempts. He bruised the outside of the knee Thursday night against Cal, Coach George Raveling said. . . . USC’s Duane Cooper had eight assists, matching a career high. . . . USC made 20 of 23 free throws, a season-best 87%. . . . USC has won its last two games against Stanford after losing its previous 13.