Granville, USC Go a Long Way

Somewhere, Harold Miner was surely sticking out his tongue, rubbing his fingers to his ears and nose and caressing a basketball as only he could, wondering why he’s suddenly such a hot topic at USC, almost 10 years after he left school.

The enigmatic and idiosyncratic former Trojan guard had his named evoked earlier this week when USC Coach Henry Bibby compared freshman guard Errick Craven to Miner.

And Miner’s name was erased from one corner of the USC record book Wednesday night by senior point guard Brandon Granville in the Trojans’ 86-68 win over Long Beach State at the Pyramid.

Granville had a career night in front of 4,614.

In scoring a career-high 25 points, Granville made a career-best six three-point shots, giving him 178 for his career, two more than Miner had at USC from 1990-92.

Granville, who played 36 minutes, also had two assists, giving him 634 on his career and moving him within two of UCLA’s Darrick Martin for seventh place on the Pacific 10 Conference’s all-time assist list.

“I knew coming into the season that I was within a lot of different records,” said Granville, who also moved into 19th place on USC’s all-time scoring list with 1,114 points, passing Ron Riley and Bill Sharman on the night.

“Being a four-year starter and getting a lot of minutes, that’s going to happen and I’ve been leaving my mark.

“But to be mentioned in the same breath with Harold Miner, Baby Jordan, that’s a great player right there. I watched him when he was at Inglewood in high school growing up. To be mentioned with Baby Jordan is a great compliment.”

Bibby, who has been riding his seniors since practice began, gave his point guard a compliment, of sorts.

“We haven’t had that in a long time from him,” he said.

When asked if Granville displayed the type of senior leadership he had been yearning for, Bibby smiled.

“You could say that,” he said.

USC (5-2) shot a season-high 58.5% from the field, 57.9% (11 of 19) from three-point territory while Long Beach State (3-5) shot 47.4%.

USC’s pressing defense forced 16 turnovers and the Trojans had 10 steals.

The 11 three-pointers the Trojans made equaled the season-best they had against Rhode Island on Dec. 4.

Craven had 18 points, six rebounds, four assists and four turnovers in 32 minutes.

“My job is to create,” said Craven, who also had two steals and a block, “to get B.G. (Granville) and David [Bluthenthal] open looks.”

Senior power forward Sam Clancy had 16 points and six rebounds with a team-high three steals in 38 minutes.

Long Beach State was led by forward James Williams’ 16 points while Kevin Roberts came off the bench to score a career-high 15 points before fouling out.

Bibby started junior Kostas Charissis at center, giving the Trojans their sixth starting lineup in seven games.

Charissis started 13 games as a freshman.

He started once as a sophomore.

And he began the 2001-02 season with a three-game suspension.

In his second start since the end of the 1999-2000 season, Charissis responded with six points, on three-of-four shooting, and three rebounds and a block in 17 minutes.

“Tonight was let’s see what Kostas can do for us against their big guys,” Bibby said of the 6-feet-11, 250-pound center.

“And he did a good job for us.”

Charissis, a native of Greece, was suspended to start the year because he had played with professionals in Europe.

“I just had to get out there and play,” Charissis said. “Coach said that everybody was going to have their opportunity. Tonight was mine.”

The 49ers were within two points, 34-32, following a Williams basket with 2:43 to play in the first half.

But USC erupted in the final 86 seconds of the half, going on a 7-0 run to take a 41-32 lead into intermission.

The 49ers scored the first five points of the second half to get within four, 41-37, but then went cold, getting one field goal in the next five minutes.

The Trojans went on a 20-4 run to up their advantage to a game-high 20 points, 61-41.