Trojans’ Big Red Upsets the Cardinal

Brian Scalabrine hadn’t made a three-point shot all season. When he finally got one, it helped USC upset sixth-ranked Stanford, 86-82, in overtime Saturday at Maples Pavilion.

Scalabrine led the Trojans with 22 points, but none were more significant than his three-point basket in overtime. The 6-foot-9 Scalabrine, who was 0 for 4 from three-point range going into the game, had to shoot over Stanford forward Mark Madsen.

“I’m not a terrible shooter from there,” the redhead explained. “But a shot over a 6-foot-8 Madsen like that is a lot of luck.”

Scalabrine’s shot with 1:15 left in overtime, along with two foul shots with 56 seconds to go, put the Trojans ahead, 81-74.

Freshman guard Brandon Granville had 21 points and seven assists for the Trojans (12-10 overall, 4-9 in the Pacific 10 Conference), who had lost eight of nine going into the game and had not beaten the Cardinal on the road since the 1991-92 season.

Stanford (20-5, 10-2), which trailed for most of the game and couldn’t come closer than two points in overtime, was led by Arthur Lee with 22 points and Tim Young with 19 points and nine rebounds.

The Cardinal wasn’t really in the game until the second half, and by then USC was riding on momentum. Stanford has trailed its last seven games at the half.

“Our mental side of things is sorry right now,” Coach Mike Montgomery said.

“They came out and played it straight up. They flat outperformed us.”

Stanford struggled against the quicker Trojans throughout the game, but started to mount a comeback midway through the second half--thanks in part to USC’s mistakes.

The Trojans led, 59-48, with 10:42 to go, but Lee made six free throws and added a three-point basket to close the gap to 59-57.

USC clung to the lead until Young’s layup with 4:09 left tied the score, 63-63, and his added free throw gave Stanford the lead for the first time in the game.

Granville put USC back ahead, 65-64, but Lee answered with a basket of his own to give the Cardinal a one-point advantage with 3:29 left.

The teams wrestled for the lead the rest of the way, with both taking poor last shots, leaving the score knotted at 70 at the end of regulation.

USC took a 76-70 lead before Lee and Kris Weems each made a set of free throws to bring Stanford to 76-74. Scalabrine then made his first three-point shot of the season and added two free throws before Stanford closed to 82-80 on Lee’s layup at 25 seconds.

Again Scalabrine sank a pair of free throws before Young made it 84-82 with four seconds left. USC’s Elias Ayuso completed the scoring with two free throws.

“Stanford came back in the second half, as a great team will do,” USC Coach Henry Bibby said. “But we outlasted them. It’s a tribute to our guys.”

Madsen, who fouled out, had 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Cardinal.

“I felt like we were flat. In fact, we’ve been flat the last few games,” Madsen said. “USC, like everybody else, took a great shot at us, and they won.”