USC’s Miner Is Up to the Task : Trojans: He grabs a career-high 14 rebounds to go with 24 points in an 84-71 victory over Oregon after Raveling’s challenge.

After developing a reputation as a prolific scorer, USC guard Harold Miner wants to become an equally proficient rebounder.

Challenged by Coach George Raveling to rebound more aggressively, Miner responded by grabbing a career-high 14 rebounds and scoring 24 points as the Trojans defeated Oregon, 84-71, Saturday night before 3,829 at the Sports Arena.

“If nothing else, Harold just surrendered in this game because I’ve been ragging him all week about the fact that he had no defensive rebounds when we played Oregon last time,” Raveling said. “I think he just got sick and tired of me talking to him.

“I put a sign up by his locker before the game that he owed me 10 rebounds. He really did a great job of rebounding.”

Miner said that he would like to be known as a complete player.

“When a guy shoots a lot, he automatically gets a reputation as a scorer,” Miner said. “Hopefully, I can be recognized as more than just a scorer.”

The Trojans won their third consecutive game and improved to 16-8 overall and 7-7 in the Pacific 10.

USC will end the season with two games against Washington and two against Washington State. The Trojans will play at Washington on Thursday followed by a game at Washington State Saturday. USC will end the season with home games against Washington and Washington State the following week.

Miner wasn’t the only Trojan who rebounded well as USC controlled the boards, 50-33. Center Yamen Sanders had a career-high 16 rebounds and forward Ronnie Coleman had 10 rebounds and 25 points.

After making his first eight shots and scoring 17 points in the first half, Coleman missed 10 consecutive shots, including seven at the start of the second half. Most of the shots Coleman missed were inside 10 feet.

“I started rushing shots and I got frustrated,” Coleman said. “But I just tried to keep my head up.”

The Trojans kept going to Coleman and he responded by scoring four points as USC broke open the game with a 20-7 run and beat the Ducks for the first time in 10 games.

“I have a lot of admiration for Coleman because, after getting off to an unbelievable start, he just went stone cold. But I tried to show him that we hadn’t lost any confidence in him,” Raveling said. “We just kept going to him and going to him and he got some big baskets for us.”

With the score 62-62, Coleman gave the Trojans a two-point lead with a layup. After Oregon guard Terrell Brandon, who had 29 points, countered by making a 12-foot jumper, Coleman dunked to give the Trojans the lead for good and ignite a 9-0 run.

Guard Robert Pack, who had 18 points, six assists and two steals, followed with a steal and made a layin and a free throw to give the Trojans a five-point lead. After Oregon guard Kevin Mixon missed a free throw, Sanders made a layin and Trojan guard Duane Cooper came up with a steal and sank a layin to give the Trojans a 73-64 lead.

“The defensive intensity was the key to that run,” Cooper said. “We picked it up defensively. The defense led to easy offense.”

Trailing, 54-46, Oregon went on a 16-5 run to take a 62-59 lead when center Richard Lucas, who had 18 points, made a layup and added a free throw with 10:24 left.

But the Trojans, who missed 16 of their first 20 shots in the second half, quickly regrouped.

Reserve guard Rodney Chatman made a three-point shot to create the tie, 62-62, and set up Coleman’s layup.

“I think we wore them down in the last five minutes because they didn’t sub a lot,” Raveling said.

Brandon nearly wore USC down in the first half.

After USC opened a 13-point first-half lead, Brandon kept the Ducks (12-12, 7-7) in the game by scoring 17 points in the first 20 minutes of the game. Brandon got his points in spurts, scoring eight consecutive points followed by a streak of nine in a row.

“You just can’t do anything about that rascal,” Raveling said of Brandon. “He’s just a great player. I don’t know anybody this year that’s really been able to shut that guy down.”

Trojan Notes

Oregon guard Terrell Brandon became the school’s single-season scoring leader with 640 points, passing Stan Love, who scored 639 points during the 1970-71 season. Brandon left the game after landing on his left elbow when he fell after Trojan center Yamen Sanders blocked a shot with 1:30 to play. The injury wasn’t serious.

The last time USC had three players with 10 or more rebounds in a game was in 1977, when Cliff Robinson, Purvis Miller and Paul Henderson did it against Auburn.