Trojans Are At a Loss to Explain Defeat

Six points did the trick.

A couple of layups and an eight-foot jump shot.

Those six points, in the final minute of the first half, started California on a run that did not end until the Golden Bears had run USC out of the Sports Arena with an 89-75 victory before a crowd of 5,112 on Saturday night.

“That 6-0 spurt gave them the momentum in the second half,” USC guard Quincy Wilder said. “You could just see it in their eyes.”

That 6-0 run seemed to transform what had been a close game through the first 20 minutes. It erased the Trojans’ slim lead and gave Cal a boost, not to mention a three-point edge, going into the locker room.

“That was probably the main thing,” Cal forward Carl Boyd said. “Then we kept our momentum going.”

Then the Trojans went cold on offense and fell apart on defense, getting buried under a torrent of fastbreak layups and short jump shots. In the process, USC went from Pacific 10 Conference hopeful to bordering on desperate.

The forecast doesn’t get any brighter with UCLA coming to the Sports Arena on Wednesday.

“We sure have to play better then we did [Saturday night],” Coach Henry Bibby said. “If not, it’s going to be embarrassing.”

The Trojans head into the annual rivalry with a record of 10-5 overall, 2-4 in conference play. They are on a three-game losing streak, having dropped a close game to Oregon State and a not-so-close game to No. 4 Stanford. A victory over Cal might have helped them recover from the Stanford loss, a particularly disheartening affair that had USC’s Brian Scalabrine wondering about his team’s heart.

If anything, the red-headed center looked too emotional against Cal, traveling with the ball twice and missing two shots before Bibby pulled him for a breather. By that time, Cal had raced to the lead.

The Trojans came back with unexpected help from Scalabrine’s replacement, forward Greg Lakey, who scored a quick eight points on his way to a career-high 17. He put USC ahead, 27-25, and guard Quincy Wilder, with a career-high 18 points, pushed the Trojans to a 32-29 lead with a minute remaining.

That’s when Cal turned the tide. Boyd stole the ball and scored on a layup. Sean Lampley scored on a fastbreak. Thomas Kilgore made a jump shot at the buzzer to put his team ahead, 35-32.

“Just a minor mistake can turn the game around,” Scalabrine said.

Cal (11-4, 2-3) needed the boost. A darkhorse pick in the preseason, the Golden Bears started sluggishly in conference. Their best player, guard Geno Carlisle, was fighting a slump and spent the first four minutes of the game on the bench as penance.

He responded with a game-high 20 points and 10 assists.

“This team has a lot of character,” Carlisle said. “We were able to bounce back.”

The same could not be said for USC, which began to press and employ gimmick defenses. The Golden Bears were able to capitalize, beating those defenses for layups and short shots. Five players scored in double-figures.

“They’re a pretty quick team, slashing to the hole,” Wilder said. “They got some easy baskets.”

Boyd offered this correction: “I wouldn’t say easy. It was fun. Just to get the chance to run the floor and crash the boards.”

All of which added up to an 18-6 run, which added up to disaster for the Trojans. They reverted to last season’s form, missing one jump shot after another, giving up long rebounds that turned into fastbreaks.

“We have to have shooters making shots,” Bibby said. “We haven’t had that.”

Consider the Trojans’ two marksmen: Adam Spanich made three of seven for six points and Elias Ayuso made one of six for three points. Combined, they were one of six from three-point range.

Afterward, the Trojans sounded like a team verging on a confidence crisis and Bibby sounded like a coach with some damage-control on his hands. Asked if this was the week from hell, he could only laugh.

“And it’s not over yet,” he said.