Trojans Find a Way Out of Hole to Win

A head basketball coach for 20 years, George Raveling maintains that his USC team is special.

It’s difficult to argue with Raveling after watching the Trojans overcome an eight-point deficit in the final 1:27 of regulation and defeat Stanford, 73-72, in overtime Saturday before 4,932 at the Sports Arena.

Harold Miner, who scored 33 points, sent the game into overtime by making an 18-foot jump shot with 33 seconds remaining in regulation to tie it, 63-63. He scored USC’s last five points in overtime.

“We never give up on ourselves,” Miner said. “We didn’t play as well as we could. But we played with heart and took the game from them. It was a gut-check type of win. We had to reach down inside for some extra energy to grab the win.”

Raveling was overcome with emotion, nearly breaking into tears after the 15th-ranked Trojans extended their record to 7-0 in games decided by five or fewer points this season.

“Dr. Martin Luther King had a saying in his speeches about ‘making a way out of no way out,’ ” Raveling said. “That’s what we did today. There was no way out of the hole we dug today. But we did it with a phase of the game that isn’t our strength--defense. We played tough defense, rebounded the basketball and found a way to win.

“The guy who said it’s better to be lucky than good sure knew what he was talking about.”

USC, 19-4 overall and 11-2 in the Pacific 10 Conference, was lucky down the stretch.

After Stanford forward Adam Keefe, who had 27 points and 18 rebounds, made a free throw to give the Cardinal a 62-54 lead with 2:37 left, USC guard Rodney Chatman scored seven consecutive points.

Chatman made a three-point shot and added a free throw after he was fouled by Stanford guard Peter Dukes with 1:27 remaining. After Stanford forward Brent Williams made one of two free throws, Chatman sank a three-point shot from the right corner to make it 63-61 with 51 seconds left.

Keefe fumbled the ball out of bounds underneath the Trojan basket on the inbounds play with 47 seconds remaining, and Miner hit a jump shot with 33 seconds left to tie it, 63-63.

USC guard Duane Cooper stole the ball with 16 seconds remaining and was fouled by Marcus Lollie while driving for a layup. Cooper missed both free throws, but the Trojans kept the ball because of the alternating possession rule when USC’s Mark Boyd tied up Dukes as they battled for a rebound after Cooper’s second miss.

USC used a timeout to set up a play, but Raveling misread the clock and put his team in the wrong offensive set. Rather than Miner taking the last shot, Cooper dribbled out the clock and rushed a jump shot at the buzzer.

With the Trojans trailing, 67-65, after Dukes hit a three-pointer with 2:10 left in overtime, Cooper redeemed himself by sinking a three-point shot with 1:47 remaining to give USC a 68-67 lead.

Keefe made a follow shot to give the Cardinal a one-point lead with 1:18 left, but Miner tied it when he sank a free throw with 36.6 seconds left.

Stanford, which had 22 turnovers, lost the ball twice down the stretch.

USC forward Lorenzo Orr intercepted a pass by Lollie and set up Miner for a layup with 24 seconds left in overtime to give the Trojans a 71-69 lead.

Lollie missed a three-pointer, but Keefe got the rebound and fed Williams, who missed another three-pointer with 7.5 seconds remaining. The Cardinal retained possession when the ball went out of bounds off a USC player.

However, Lollie fumbled the ball out of bounds on the inbounds play with six seconds left, and Miner sealed the victory with two free throws after he was fouled by Lollie to give USC a 73-69 lead.

Dukes made a three-pointer with one second left for the final margin.

“We blew it, no doubt about it,” Stanford Coach Mike Montgomery said. “We had it won. It was our game to win, and we just gave it to them. We made some screwball turnovers at the end of the game. All we had to do was make our free throws and run the clock out.

“There’s no excuse at this stage of the season. We mentally broke down and the mistakes killed us. If USC was ever ripe, it was today. The issue is with the kids’ confidence. It’s discouraging. My initial feeling is anger.”

Trojan Notes

USC guard Harold Miner has scored 30 or more points in his last four games and is averaging 32.5 points in that span. Miner made 11 of 33 shots, including three of 11 three-point shots, and sank eight of 10 free throws in 44 minutes. . . . After shooting a season-low 27.8% in the first half, USC shot 46.4% in the second half and 50% in overtime.