When Trojans Go Cold, Upset Fizzles : USC: Long stretch without a basket enables Bruins to turn four-point deficit into a lead.

Poor shooting came back to haunt USC Thursday night.

The Trojans went for nearly the final eight minutes of the game without a basket while being outscored, 16-4, in UCLA’s 73-69 victory at the Sports Arena.

For 32 minutes, USC controlled the game and when Stais Boseman made a three-point basket from the left corner, the Trojans’ smelled upset with a 60-56 lead with 8:09 remaining.

“I felt that we were in a good spot then with (UCLA point guard) Tyus Edney out,” said Boseman, who finished with 21 points and six rebounds. “To be honest, I didn’t think they’d come back like that with him out.”

What Boseman did not count on was the return of the Trojans’ shooting curse, which has plagued the team during a losing streak that has now reached five games.

USC, which had shot only 37% from the field over the last two weeks, went cold while UCLA began to get its offense on track. The Bruins turned a four-point deficit into a 64-61 lead with 5:14 remaining and never looked back.

“They just took advantage of the situation and made a good run,” USC freshman Cameron Murray said. “UCLA is a team that plays on emotion and when they get like that, their defense picks up.”

What helped UCLA was the fact that USC did not have its top two scorers in the game. Lorenzo Orr, who had a team-high 22 points and nine rebounds, was replaced by David Crouse because of fatigue, and Boseman had to leave the game because of severe leg cramps.

“That was a key moment,” said USC Coach Charlie Parker, whose team made only 23 of 63 shots (36.5%).

“We couldn’t score and we allowed them to score. It was just two teams going in different directions. Once they got momentum, we couldn’t stop it.”

During the span, USC was able to manage only three free throws by Orr and one by Wilson, while UCLA was getting dunks from center George Zidek and forward Ed O’Bannon and easy rebound baskets from Charles O’Bannon and Toby Bailey.

The Trojans did not score their next basket until Orr made an uncontested dunk with 13.9 seconds remaining.

“Once they got a couple of dunks you could start seeing it in their eyes,” said Boseman, whose injury cost the Trojans the most because he had made four of the team’s seven three-pointers. “You could feel the momentum go from us to them.”

For nearly a two-minute stretch during UCLA’s run, USC had a lineup on the floor made up of Burt Harris, Brandon Martin, Jaha Wilson, Crouse and Murray. In the game, they combined to make only eight of 33 shots for 20 points and 14 rebounds.

“We had a couple of guys hurting at the end,” Parker said. “Lorenzo had to come out for a breather and Stais got hurt. UCLA then started hitting the boards hard. Lorenzo and Stais were two of our top three rebounders tonight. And we continued to miss some wide-open shots.”

Another problem for USC was its defense. UCLA made 31 of 61 shots, with most of the Bruins’ points coming from dunks and layups.

“I thought that we had control of the game before our guards started to get tired,” Parker said. “We then couldn’t keep up our pressure defense and had to switch to a zone. A lot of their easy baskets came because we just stopped moving on defense. That really hurt us.”