Trojans X-Out Bruins’ Streak

This being a new era, all Bruin streaks against the Trojans must come to an end.

First it was the gridiron. And Wednesday it was the hardwood floor as USC shredded its 10-game losing streak to UCLA with a 91-79 victory at the Sports Arena.

The bulk of the 10,001 spectators were on their feet screaming “just like football” to the dispirited blue and gold squad that was outplayed by the aggressive and energetic team wearing the home whites trimmed in red.

In winning its fifth in a row and seventh in the last eight games, USC (10-5, 3-0) never trailed and led its cross-town rivals by as many as 20 points in the second half.

The Trojans got a career-high 26 points from junior Jeff Trepagnier, one of five Trojans in double figures. They outrebounded UCLA, 45-35--Gonzaga is the only other opponent to better the Bruins on the boards.

“We played pretty good tonight,” said USC Coach Henry Bibby, who defeated his alma mater for the first time in seven tries. “We did whatever we wanted to do offensively and defensively.”

While the Trojans go rest and practice for the Arizona schools next week, UCLA (9-4, 1-2) takes yet another crisis of confidence into Saturday’s game at North Carolina.

“Hats off to USC,” Bruin Coach Steve Lavin said. “They played a great game at both ends of the floor, did a great job of posting our big guys up. They did a great job on the boards and in the paint. They beat us to the punch in all areas of the game.”

The night didn’t start well for UCLA. Its team bus broke down en route to the arena, and the Bruins had to walk and jog a mile to arrive after 7 p.m. for a 7:30 tipoff. “It was probably a Trojan bus driver,” Lavin said.

And if the Bruins were sluggish when they arrived, they were a dead team walking at the tipoff.

“That’s when I knew we had the game,” said sophomore forward David Bluthenthal, who scored 12 points and had a game-high 12 rebounds. “We could see in their eyes they weren’t ready to play.”

For USC, two things had to happen defensively. Trepagnier had to contain Jason Kapono and Brandon Granville had to neutralize Earl Watson, leaving Bluthenthal, Sam Clancy and Brian Scalabrine to battle Dan Gadzuric, Jerome Moiso and Ray Young.

The Trojans also had to work the boards and keep the Bruins from second and third shots.

It was flawlessly executed in the first half. USC had more offensive rebounds (12) than the Bruins had total rebounds (10). Kapono had did have 11 points but he was not getting them in clusters. Trepagnier had 12 points and seven of USC’s 28 rebounds. Watson only had a three-point basket, while Granville had scored 11. After Kapono, the next highest Bruin scorer was Ryan Bailey with seven.

“We had our focus both inside and outside,” Trepagnier said. “We didn’t want them getting a lot of easy baskets in the transition game. We knew everybody had to play defense tonight.”

Kapono did go on to score 21 points to lead UCLA, but his best shot was at his teammates in the locker room.

“Heart,” the freshman said when asked what was wrong with the Bruins. “Throw away the rebounds, throw away the shots, throw away the free throws. We’ve got to have more heart.”

The Trojans had heart, desire and scoreboard. And, until the rematch at Pauley Pavilion Feb. 9, they have the town.

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USC Skid Ends

USC had lost to UCLA 10 consecu- tive times before Wednesday’s win, its first since an 85-79 victory in 1994. Bruins lead overall, 115-93 (italic type indicates UCLA home game):

Year: Scores

‘99: 98-90 68-63

‘98: 101-84 82-75

‘97: 96-87 82-60

‘96: 99-72 61-59

‘95: 73-69 85-66

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PACIFIC 10

USC: 3-0

Arizona: 2-0

Oregon: 1-0

Stanford: 1-1

Arizona St.: 1-1

Washington: 1-1

UCLA: 1-2

Oregon St.: 0-1

California: 0-2

Washington St.: 0-2