Washington Has a Long-Range Solution

USC was trying to regroup after being mangled in its last three Pacific 10 Conference games.

Coach Henry Bibby was trying to scrape together a lineup--mostly of freshmen--that could at least stay close to Washington on Thursday night.

But the much-larger Huskies have two 7-foot players in their lineup, and USC focused on them, which allowed Washington’s guards to fire away from three-point range.

Sophomore guard Deon Luton, made seven of his 12 three-point shots and scored 31 points to lead the Huskies to a 101-86 victory at the Sports Arena before 2,324.

“They weren’t concentrating on me in the beginning,” said Luton, who was averaging 15 points going into the game, but made 11 of 16 from the field and knocked down his first four three-point shots.

“Once I got that first shot down, my confidence really took off.”

While Washington’s 7-foot center, Todd MacCulloch, chipped in 16 points, Luton, sophomore Donald Watts and senior Jan Wooten feasted on the undersized Trojans, who have no one taller than 6-8.

Watts scored 22 points and made all five of his three-point shots. Wooten had 10 points and a team-high eight assists.

With the victory, the Huskies moved to 13-4 overall and 6-2 in the Pacific 10 and are tied with UCLA for third place in the league.

For the Trojans (6-12, 2-6), the loss was their fourth in a row and they look to be in a free fall.

After leading, 39-35, at halftime, Washington seized control of the game in the first seven minutes of the second half.

The Huskies went on a 11-6 run and later surged to a 15-2 run. During the latter stretch, USC went scoreless for more than four minutes. With 12:55 to play, Washington led, 64-43.

The Huskies lead grew to 31 points with 6:45 to play.

The Trojans launched a desperate comeback behind their leading scorer, junior forward Adam Spanich.

He sank four three-pointers in the waning minutes and made seven of 14 for the game. Spanich scored 35 points, the most by a Trojan this season.

“Things started opening up a little bit more in the second half,” he said. “The screens were tighter earlier. . . . I’m not surprised with the way I shot. I expect that kind of shooting from myself.”

USC got to within 10 points with 28 seconds to play, but the damage had been done.

“We came out in the second half with no intensity. That’s my fault,” Bibby said. “Our assistant coaches wanted to come out with the guys who played with intensity at the end, but I wanted to stick with our starters. I gave them the benefit of the doubt.”

It was the second game in a row in which Bibby has gotten strong performances from his talented but underachieving freshmen class.

Kevin Augustine scored 17 points and had six assists and Greg Lakey finished with 13.

USC started its 12th different lineup, made up mostly of returning players, and they performed like an over-the-hill bunch, scoring only five points and falling behind, 17-5.

With 14:23 to play, Bibby sent in five new players that included all four of his freshmen.

Lakey, who had been averaging 4.6 points, scored six in a row, the first a fade-away jump shot over MacCulloch.

“That’s how I really want to play,” Lakey said.