Waves Nearly Crash on USC

That ugly, unwatchable basketball people were predicting would pollute the college game in November because the referees were going to call fouls closely this season?

Turns out they were a month off.

USC did manage to bludgeon out a 76-73 victory over Pepperdine before 5,403 at the Sports Arena. In doing so the 13th-ranked Trojans remained unbeaten (7-0), and won their ninth consecutive game dating to last season. It’s the most wins to open a USC season since the 1974-75 team won its first eight games.

USC’s Brian Scalabrine led all scorers with 22. Pepperdine’s Brandon Armstrong, who was shadowed by Brandon Granville and had only two points at halftime, got hot late and finished with 20.

So much for the highlights.

Once again, as they did against UC Santa Barbara, the Trojans came uncomfortably close to blowing a double-digit lead late. Ahead 71-60 with 2:33 left, USC saw Pepperdine close to within 73-70 with 28 seconds to play. But clutch free throwing by Granville--and a missed three-pointer at the buzzer by Wave guard Glen McGowan--got the Trojans through.

“I’d been missing some free throws late, against Utah and Santa Barbara,” said Granville, who made 10 of 14 from the line and scored 17 points. “I had been thinking too much.”

It’s a good thing they finished in regulation. Otherwise there would not have been many players. The teams combined for 54 fouls and 61 free throw attempts.

Fouling out for USC were David Bluthenthal (19 points, 10 rebounds) and Sam Clancy (five points). The Waves (5-3) lost their best player, Kelvin Gibbs (19 points), due to five fouls, and he was eventually followed to the bench by Cedric Suitt and Derrick Anderson. David Lalazarian had fouled out before the other three.

“This was the worst game, as far as the number of fouls called, that we’ve had so far,” USC Coach Henry Bibby said. “Like I’ve said all along, the kids don’t know how to play because the officiating is like nothing I’ve ever seen. They don’t know if they can be aggressive or if everything is going to be called tightly. The game has been taken away from competing players and given to the officials.”

Pepperdine Coach Jan van Breda Kolff did not have high praise for what he saw.

“Its unfortunate,” Van Breda Kolff said. “Games have been played a long time one way and now they are really ruling hard on the hand checking. But it’s part of the game, I guess.”

And what do the players think?

“It was very difficult to get any kind of rhythm tonight and this is a game of rhythm,” said Nate Hair, who scored eight points for the Trojans. “Basketball should be played with players, not by watching.”

The contest brought out a surprise visitor to the arena, but not the person everyone was looking for.

Rumors flew that Pete Carroll, one of the candidates for USC’s football coaching position, would be viewing the game. Carroll did not come--or at least did not sit with Athletic Director Mike Garrett--but former Seattle SuperSonic coach Paul Westphal was in attendance.

Westphal, who said he was moving back to Manhattan Beach, played for USC from 1970-72 before playing and coaching in the NBA. He said it was his first time watching the Trojans in the Sports Arena since his playing days.

What he and the rest of the crowd saw looked like a marketing tool for a sleeping pill.

The referees’ whistles blew early and often. Clancy had three fouls after three minutes and was lost for the rest of the first half. USC was out of fouls at the 13:39 mark. The teams combined for 29 free throws (with USC shooting 20), negating any chance the full-court pressure used by both teams could speed up the game’s plodding tempo.

USC also learned early that Gibbs was going to be hard to handle in the low post. The 6-foot-7, 250-pound senior scored the Waves’ first seven points, and had 15 points before picking up his third foul with 2:16 to play.

But USC still built up 36-26 halftime lead, and led by as much as 15 in the second half, 55-40, before making it too interesting--again--at the end.