USC’s Balance Throws Off Depleted Washington State

It wasn’t poetry in motion or even the first great game of the new year.

But now that Pacific 10 Conference play has finally begun, USC is more interested in victory than virtuosity. So when the Trojans got a weakened Washington State in their sights Thursday, they didn’t let up until they claimed an 83-61 victory before 4,430 at Spokane Arena.

It was USC’s third consecutive victory--their longest streak this season--and it was equal parts offense and defense. For the third time this season, all five starters finished in double figures (David Bluthenthal sneaked in with a three-point basket with 1:45 to play). Jeff Trepagnier led all scorers with 18.

“It was a similar flow on offense to the Northwestern game,” said Brian Scalabrine, who had 16 points. “It suits our style. It was like ‘my turn, then go to Sam [Clancy] or go to Jeff.’ As soon as they would take one guy away we’d go to someone else.”

And the Trojans (8-5, 1-0) held the Cougars without a field goal in the final 4:27. Washington State (5-5, 0-1) scored its final nine points on free throws.

“We followed the scouting report exactly,” said Clancy, who had 17 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. “We threw a lot of half-court traps at them because the coaches told us they hate to play that way. And it worked.”

To the tune of 23 Cougar turnovers, six blocked shots and nine steals.

“I was real happy with our game, especially in the second half,” USC Coach Henry Bibby said. “Tonight was the most important game because it was the conference opener. But we can’t be happy with just one win, we want to get two.”

Bibby singled out Trepagnier’s overall performance. Not only did he dazzle with gravity-defying dunks (including a reverse jam on an alley-oop toss from Brandon Granville in the first half), he harassed Jan-Michael Thomas, the Cougar’s leading scorer, into a 12-point, five-for-13 night from the floor.

“Thomas was the guy we were most concerned with, and Jeff did a very good job not giving him shots,” Bibby said.

Trepagnier, in his new role as the team’s stopper, wasn’t totally satisfied.

“I felt I frustrated him but he still got in double digits,” Trepagnier said. “I wanted to hold him under 10.”

USC didn’t want to hold anything else back.

The Trojans certainly had favorable conditions. Washington State had only nine available players. Two Cougars--freshman guard Mike Malloy and redshirt junior center J. Locklier--were ill with flu. Two others, freshman forward Bryan Whitehead and junior forward Tyrone Evans, were out because of knee injuries.

Freshman guard Marcus Moore, a late qualifier from Compton Dominguez High, will not enroll in school until Monday.

Sophomore guard Mike Bush, also fighting flu, led the Cougars with 15 points.

Things were so bad this week that Washington State Coach Paul Graham had assistants Gary Stewart, Randall Dickey and Chris Croft practice with the team. And Graham even squeezed a couple of minutes from Paul Mencke--a backup quarterback on the football team playing his first basketball game in four years.

But the Trojans had no mercy.

As has been its habit this season, USC got out quickly, racing to a 16-5 spread and enjoying leads of 15 points before settling for a 43-30 halftime edge.

Washington State made one brief run in the second half, scoring 10 consecutive points to draw within 48-38 at the 15:18 mark. But USC outscored the Cougars, 23-14, over the next 10 minutes to put the game away.

On Saturday USC will try to sweep the Washington schools on the road for the first time since 1985.