Trojans Find the Range From 15 Feet : College basketball: USC’s 81% free throw shooting generates a 77-69 victory over Oregon.

USC could not have picked a better time to do its best free-throw shooting of the season.

In a foul-plagued game against Oregon on Saturday, the Trojans shot 81% from the line and made a season-high 34 free throws to defeat the Ducks, 77-69, before 3,574 at the Sports Arena.

“It got very discouraging out there because you could never really get into the game,” said USC senior Mark Boyd, had 12 points and five rebounds but was limited to 23 minutes because of foul trouble. “Mentally, I never got untracked. There were so many calls made that it almost felt like we were playing on the road.”

With all-time leading scorer Harold Miner being honored before the game, the Trojans and Oregon combined for 53 personal fouls and 76 free throws.

USC outrebounded the Ducks, 35-24, to improve to 2-0 in the Pacific 10 Conference for the first time since 1980.

With four players playing with four fouls for most of the second half, the Trojans (9-2) showed their depth with reserves Burt Harris, Jaha Wilson, Claude Green and Kirk Homenick combining for 29 points.

“This was an obvious victory and tribute to our bench,” USC Coach George Raveling said. “In a small way, you can see why I have so much confidence in this team. The bench stabilized things for us.”

After losing his starting point guard position to Damaine Powell earlier this season, Harris has adjusted to his new role by looking to add speed and outside scoring as a reserve.

“We now have two solid point guards, and that can only help the team,” said Harris, who made three three-point baskets. “I try to give the team a spark by giving a faster look when I am on the floor.”

Another former starter who played well as a reserve was Wilson, who did not start for the first time in seven games.

“Before I went in the game, Coach (Raveling) asked me to do one favor by playing some defense,” said Wilson, a 6-foot-6 freshman who scored eight points and grabbed four rebounds in 15 minutes. “So, I just went out and did that and the offense followed.”

Green, a freshman guard from Washington, did not play in the first half, but he gave the Trojans a lift as an outside scoring threat in 13 minutes.

“I have a lot of confidence in Claude when he comes in the game because he is not shy to shoot at any time,” said Lorenzo Orr, who scored 12 of his team-high 16 points in the second half with Green in the lineup. “We need to be aggressive on offense, and he stepped up to hit some big shots for us.”

With Boyd and freshman center Avondre Jones struggling because of foul trouble, Homenick, a 7-foot sophomore, played the best game of his career with six points in nine minutes.

“USC is a very aggressive team,” said Coach Jerry Green, whose Ducks dropped to 0-2 in the Pac-10 and 4-7 overall. “They may be the most aggressive team on the backboards offensively of any team I’ve been around in a long, long time.”

After losing fairly close games to UCLA on Thursday and USC on Saturday, Oregon freshman point guard Kenya Wilkens agreed with Green.

“We’re not as weak as people make us out to be because we hung in there against two of the top teams in our conference,” said Wilkens, a former standout at Dorsey High. “In comparing the two teams, SC plays with more spirit and the way they crashed the boards really hurt us today.”