USC Blows Final Chances, Loses Again : College basketball: Four close-range shots missed in final seconds of 50-49 loss to Washington.

Four relatively easy chances for victory turned into four missed shots and another loss for USC Saturday at the Sports Arena.

That’s how the Trojans will remember their 50-49 Pacific 10 Conference defeat to Washington before 2,813 after blowing an eight-point lead in the final nine minutes, watching the four close-range misses in the last seven seconds.

Washington led by a point with 22.8 seconds left when the Trojans ran the clock down for an isolation play for Brandon Martin, who was double-teamed and passed inside to a cutting Stais Boseman with time running out.

After penetrating, Boseman missed a four-foot bank shot that was rebounded by Mark Boyd, who missed two consecutive tips before Tremayne Anchrum attempted a desperation rebound volley at the buzzer.

“I thought I had the tip, but it just floated in the air and then I got another tip and it just went long,” said Boyd, who had 13 points and nine rebounds. “I had almost good position on the play, but I was trying to tip on an angle. I tried, but I just couldn’t get it to fall.”

It was a tough defeat for USC, 11-9 overall and 4-7 in Pac-10 play, after ending a six-game losing streak Thursday with a victory over Washington State.

One big problem was that Lorenzo Orr, the Trojans’ leading rebounder and scorer, did not score or grab a rebound in 13 minutes because of foul trouble.

After playing only 11 minutes in the first half because of three fouls, Orr was called for his fourth 34 seconds into the second half. Orr returned with 7:41 remaining and fouled out 74 seconds later.

“We should be fortunate it came down to a shot at the end (since we were) without Orr,” USC Coach George Raveling said. “He never got into offensive rhythm. A lot of that was because of foul trouble.”

The Trojans, who defeated Washington last month at Seattle, struggled but controlled most of the game, thanks largely to Martin, who finished with a team-high 18 points, and the defense of Boseman, who had five steals.

Washington (4-16, 2-9) gave USC problems with its deliberate halfcourt offense in taking a 27-26 halftime lead, but the Trojans appeared to get their offense going early in the second half.

Behind seven consecutive points by Martin, USC took a 43-35 lead with 9:06 left. But after that, the Trojans made only two field goals as the Huskies slowly crept back before taking a 50-47 lead at the 2:17 mark.

“I thought their tempo was a big factor in that they held the ball until there’s only 12 or 11 second left on the shot clock,” said Anchrum. “Then because you want to hurry the game up so bad that you go down and take a bad quick shot and then they get the rebound.”

Washington’s main man was center Maurice Woods, who took advantage of the Trojans’ interior defense by scoring 14 of his 16 points in the second half despite having four fouls.

After two free throws by Anchrum cut the Huskies’ lead to 50-49 with 2:02 left, USC’s defense came up with two big stops that led to the dramatic finish.

“We couldn’t ask for a better shot than Boseman’s,” said Raveling, whose Trojans suffered only their sixth loss at the Sports Arena since March 1990. “And we had a couple of quality tips. But Lady Luck didn’t look kindly at us.”

Trojan Notes

Freshmen Avondre Jones and Claude Green did not play because they were suspended for violating a team rule Friday. . . . The Trojans’ shooting woes continued as they made only 32.8% of their shots from the field and 46.2% of their free-throw attempts.