USC Less Ugly Than Oregon : College basketball: Trojans only three for 20 from three-point range but keep the Ducks winless in Pac-10, 69-58.

Somewhere in the middle of the state, USC ceased to resemble a basketball team. Fortunately for Trojans, though, they played the worst team in the Pacific 10 Conference, the Oregon Ducks, Saturday.

The Trojans won a travesty of basketball, 69-58, leading almost the entire game. Both teams had trouble handling the ball, passing it and shooting it.

“The best thing I can say about this game is that it’s a victory,” Trojan Coach George Raveling said. “I feel sorry for people who paid to see this. They should have been given a couple of positive marks toward going to heaven, because they went through a lot of hell tonight.

“I don’t know what the reason was. There was no rhyme or reason to this game. It never developed into any pattern. Maybe it was just all the trapping and poor shooting.

“I’m glad it wasn’t on TV. I wouldn’t wish this game on anyone.”

The Trojans, who played a solid first half Thursday night against Oregon State, seem to have lost such things as three-point shooting and short jump shots.

The Ducks, 7-9 overall, 0-4 in Pacific 10 play, took a 3-0 lead when Jeff Potter made a three-point play on a layup. The Trojans made only four of their first 14 shots, but led, 9-5.

USC led, 35-21, at halftime, and the margin remained about 14 points for 15 minutes of the second half.

McArthur Court used to be known as the Pit, a place where visiting teams feared the noisy fans. But it was only about half-filled Saturday and the fans were quiet most of the night.

They started making noise only in the closing minutes when Oregon, taking advantage of poor Trojan free-throw shooting, cut the lead to 58-53.

The Ducks started fouling before USC inbounded the ball. There were so many fouls that it took almost 20 minutes to play the last 3:50.

When Lorenzo Orr, Rodney Chatman and Phil Glenn made two free throws apiece, order was restored and the Trojans improved to 9-4 overall, 2-2 in conference play.

USC, which shot only 25.9% from the field in the second half at Corvallis on Thursday, were a bit better in this game (44.6%), but the Trojans were only three for 20 from three-point range. Still, Oregon was one for 17.

Once one of the nation’s best shooting teams from long range, the Trojans have lost all confidence. In the last two games they are seven for 39.

The Ducks were 21 for 60 from the field.

Always the optimist, Raveling found some good things about the Trojans.

“Mark Boyd played very well until he got into foul trouble,” he said. “But the best is that we’re even with UCLA and we play the next three games at home.”

Chatman and Dwayne Hackett each had 12 points, and Orr and Chatman each had 10 rebounds. What kept it from being a rout, though, is that the Trojans turned the ball over 20 times.

Potter, after making the three-point play to start the game, was top scorer in the game with 13 points.

By making three shots in a row in the middle of the first half, the Ducks were nine for 28 in the first half. They improved only slightly in the second half and not enough to beat the weary Trojans.