USC Just Can’t Give This One Away

USC would have liked to have done it differently Thursday night, to have come out hungry and seize the must-win game against Oregon at the Sports Arena.

But after sneaking past the Ducks, 72-69, the Trojans quickly acknowledged that when an NCAA tournament bid is on the line, style is not of the highest priority.

“You win any way you can,” Coach Henry Bibby said.

Said Jaha Wilson, who scored 17 points and had 11 rebounds, leading to a 58-37 edge on the boards: “We should have beat them by more, but I feel lucky just to have gotten the win.”

This game, like every one the rest of the season, will be judged on how it affects USC’s chances of making the 64-team NCAA tournament. Thursday’s verdict: It helped.

The Trojans (15-9, 10-5) have three games left (Oregon State on Saturday, at Washington State and Washington next week) and a desperate goal of reaching the 17 victories most on the team believe will earn a bid.

“We had to have this one,” said center David Crouse, who had 16 points, one of four Trojans in double figures. “You can’t lose at home down the stretch when you are a bubble team.”

At times USC played very much like that bubble team, repeatedly allowing Oregon (16-9, 7-9) back into the game.

When the Trojans had their biggest advantage, 53-45, with 12:53 left, their offense vanished. USC missed six of its next seven shots, including two wide-open three-point looks by Ken Sims, committed two turnovers and Oregon tied the score, 57-57, at 8:26.

And after the Trojans took a 65-60 lead, USC let Oregon sneak ahead, 66-65, with 2:13 to play on the last of six three-point shots by Jamal Lawrence, who scored a game-high 20. Oregon took a season-high 30 three-pointers, making 12.

But from there USC went five of six from the free throw line and got a huge basket inside from Wilson with 29 seconds left that pushed the lead to 70-67. USC turned the ball over with 12 seconds left and Rob Ramaker had a chance to tie it, but he missed a three-pointer and USC’s miscues were forgotten in the celebration.

“It was a team effort,” said Stais Boseman, who had 12 points on four-of-16 shooting. “Jaha came in and controlled the boards for us, got us some big buckets inside, and everybody stepped it up.”

Rodrick Rhodes, whose poor performances in the three games before Thursday drew much attention, did not start, a move Bibby said was “to ease him into it.”

“We have put a lot of pressure on Rod and I wanted him to back off a bit,” Bibby continued. “We wanted to win with the team. We told him he didn’t have to win the game.”

Rhodes entered the game with 13:15 left in the first half and immediately got on the board by making two free throws. He also, briefly, added some stability to a Trojan offense that turned the ball over 14 times in the half, resulting in 17 Oregon points.

He completed a three-point play at 10:56, the start of a 10-1 USC run that gave the Trojans their biggest lead of the half, 24-18. He added two more free throws, a layup, and a pair of pretty assists to Wilson near the the end of a half that ended 38-38.

Rhodes finished with 16 points, three assists and some confidence not seen in the last two weeks.

“I deserved this,” Rhodes said. “I worked really hard in practice, worked before and after practice, and it paid off.”

Said Boseman: “Rod came in and he took control of the game.”

Kenya Wilkins led Oregon with 15 points at the break on six-of-11 shooting. But he scored only two points in the second half.