Coleman Breaks USC Scoring Record : Trojans: He gets 1,525th point in first half of 86-69 victory over Cal State Northridge.

Sandwiched between nationally ranked UCLA and Arizona, USC’s game Monday night against Cal State Northridge, a first-year Division I independent, seemed unimportant.

But the game became one for the books as senior forward Ronnie Coleman became USC’s all-time leading scorer in an 86-69 victory before 2,737 at the Sports Arena.

With 24 seconds left in the first half, Coleman made a 14-foot turnaround jump shot. It was his 12th point of the game and gave him a total of 1,525, passing Wayne Carlander’s total of 1,524 set from 1982-85.

Coleman finished with a game-high 24 points to give him 1,537 points in his career.

Before the start of the second half, Coleman’s feat was recognized by the crowd and by Coach George Raveling, who presented him with a game ball, which he flipped to his sister, Sandy, long an avid fan of her brother.

“Coming in, I wanted to concentrate on winning the game and not get caught up in the record,” Coleman said. “After I hit the first four I got worried, and I rushed my next three or four shots.”

“It is something I will remember, but it will probably be broken next year, the way Harold (Miner) is scoring.”

Miner, the only Trojan in history to score 1,000 points in only 45 games, didn’t help his cause with a season-low eight points, his lowest output in his last 42 games.

“I don’t think Harold was ever into the game, mentally, from Day 1,” Raveling said. “Harold’s play represented the team play . . . show up, get it over with and bring on Arizona.”

Said Coleman: “I knew we wouldn’t lose the game. We just came out flat like we do against teams that we feel we can dominate. We still had Wednesday night (an upset of then-12th-ranked UCLA) in our head.”

USC (12-6) scored nine points in the last 47 seconds to make the result look more disparate than it was.

“The good thing is everybody goes home happy,” Raveling said.

“They (Northridge) are happy because they gave us a tough game, and we are happy because we won. Obviously, we have no chance to beat Arizona on Thursday if we play like we did tonight. Somehow I think we’ll translate ourselves into aggressive, reckless, running, rebounding fools for Arizona.”

If Raveling has his way, he won’t be tested again in the middle of the Pacific 10 Conference season.

“Other than Notre Dame, I don’t like to schedule nonconference games during the conference season,” Raveling said. “I don’t know why I let myself do this, nothing against Northridge.”

Northridge Coach Pete Cassidy, who had difficulty scheduling local teams in his inaugural Division I season, was too grateful for the chance to play against an established program without traveling halfway across the country.

“I think that some respect was gained here tonight,” Cassidy said. “I hope there was because of the way our players played. They earned it.”

It was close until USC ran off eight consecutive points, six on fast breaks, to take a 70-57 lead, with slightly more than five minutes to play.

The Matadors made three of their first four shots to take a 7-0 lead, countered by Coleman with three consecutive baskets. Over the next six minutes, the teams exchanged baskets, although the Matadors never lost the lead.

The score was tied, 37-37, at the half.

USC CAREER SCORERS

PTS PLAYER GP PPG YEARS 1,537 Ronnie Coleman 105 14.6 1988- 1,524 Wayne Carlander 116 13.1 1982-85 1,484 John Rudometkin 79 18.8 1960-62 1,483 Derrick Dowell 119 12.5 1984-87 1,423 John Block 78 18.2 1964-66 1,318 Gus Williams 82 16.1 1973-75 1,247 Purvis Miller 90 13.9 1978-81 1,211 Ron Holmes 111 10.9 1981-85 1,204 Maurice Williams 111 10.8 1979-82 1,168 Allen Young 77 15.2 1963-65