Trojans Hook Up With Old Flame Just in Time

A season-long, quixotic quest for on-court fire brought USC to Loyola Marymount Saturday night for its final nonconference game.

And for the first 24 minutes, the search continued. The Trojans were getting embarrassed by the Lions, who owned a 15-point lead with under 16 minutes to play.

But then, as if a switch had been flipped, the Trojans located their intensity, using a fierce trapping defense and converting several resultant fastbreak opportunities to dominate down the stretch and beat the Lions, 81-67, in front of 3,158 at Gersten Pavilion.

“I don’t know who’s flipping switches,” USC Coach Henry Bibby said. “If I did, I’d do it from the start.

“They just decided they wanted to play.”

The Lions led, 39-30, at the half and opened the second half with a 10-4 run to up their lead to 49-34 after a Miroslav Neskovic baseline jumper with 15:52 to play.

That’s when the Trojans showed up.

In a breathtaking 20-3 run that featured senior power forward Sam Clancy leading the break, freshman guard Errick Craven picking Lion guards’ pockets and reserve point guard Robert Hutchinson nailing clutch three-pointers, the Trojans took the lead, 54-52, on a pair of Desmon Farmer free throws with 9:33 remaining.

With 3:24 left, Clancy converted a three-point play to give USC a 73-58 lead--completing a 30-point swing in 12-plus minutes.

“We did some things defensively in the second half that got us back in the game,” said Clancy, who finished with 19 points and a career high-tying 14 rebounds. He also had four steals and two blocks.

“We started playing more aggressively, started getting some turnovers and easy baskets. The first half, we weren’t aggressive.”

USC made its run with a three-guard lineup--Hutchinson, Craven and Farmer--and forwards Clancy and David Bluthenthal.

Hutchinson’s steady hand at the point sparked the comeback. His first three-pointer, a 24-footer from straight away, just beat the shot clock and closed the gap to 49-42 with 14:01 to play.

“That was the one that got us going,” Clancy said. “With B.G. [Brandon Granville] out, it’s not like we’re losing anything. Hutch can step in.”

The normally low-key Hutchinson relieved an ineffective Granville and finished with a career-high 10 points in a career-high 26 minutes, 18 in the second half.

“I knew I had to bring some intensity into the game,” Hutchinson said, “be a spark off the bench. I just wanted to pick up the fellas a little bit because they were down in the first half.”

In the first half USC made just nine of 19 free throws and were outrebounded, 26-19. Loyola Marymount was nearly perfect from the line in the first 20 minutes, making 12 of 13 free throws.

After shooting 34.6% from the field in the first half, USC made 48.4% of its shots after halftime.

USC (8-2) had 14 steals, 11 in the second half, and Loyola (6-5) committed 22 turnovers, 15 in the second half.

“That was the game, those turnovers,” second-year Lion Coach Steve Aggers said. “It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure that out.”

The Lions blew a 16-point lead to Nevada Las Vegas last weekend.

The Trojans, meanwhile, are about to embark on their Pacific 10 schedule Thursday at Washington, after struggling recently against three West Coast Conference teams--Pepperdine, which beat USC, San Diego, which took the Trojans to overtime, and Loyola Marymount.

“I guess we just take these mid-major teams for granted,” said Craven, who had 12 points, eight rebounds and two steals. “It’s like we don’t expect them to come out to play.”

Said Clancy: “We can’t show up with any more half-[hearted] efforts in the first half.”

Forward Greg Lakey, who transferred from USC, led Loyola with 14 points.