USC Stands Up in Second Half to Romp, 73-47

Anyone can have an off night. Even Sam Clancy.

USC’s power forward, who had been averaging 22.5 points in Pacific 10 Conference play, scored only six points on Saturday, making two of nine shots.

Fortunately for the 25th-ranked Trojans, Clancy’s below-par outing came against Oregon State, a team so undersized thanks to a multitude of injuries that it barely posed a threat to the Trojans.

USC needed a half to get in gear, but the Trojans rolled over the Beavers, 73-47, before 4,224 at the Sports Arena. It was the third consecutive victory for USC, which is 15-4 overall and 5-2 in the Pac-10.

Oregon State (8-11, 2-5) lost despite getting a game-high 17 points from Emonte Jernigan.

Brian Scalabrine scored nine of his 16 points the first six minutes of the second half, helping USC extend a 30-21 halftime lead to 44-25. From there, the Trojans cuffed the Beavers around like a cat playing with a ball of yarn, building its lead to 31 points.

“We made shots and played harder in the second half,” Scalabrine said. “They were trying to take our inside game with Sam away, and teams are going to do that. Time and time again we had people standing around the corners with open jumpers. We had a good defensive effort, but you still have to knock down shots.”

And when they don’t, the Trojans take some verbal jabs from Coach Henry Bibby, who said his team was too relaxed at the morning shoot-around.

“We were too loose,” he said. “We came in thinking we could just beat this team, and every team is beatable in the Pac-10. So I was concerned going into the game. I didn’t think we were ready. And it showed at the beginning we weren’t ready.”

USC’s attitude may have been understandable. Oregon State dressed only eight players. Its only veteran player with height, 6-foot-9 forward Brian Jackson, tried to get by on a bad left foot.

Oregon State, though, wasn’t the only team light on the bench. Three Trojan walk-ons--Rob Eres, Abdullah Elmagbari and Jamie Hooper--did not suit up and left the Sports Arena before the game. Asked if they would be back for USC’s next home game against UCLA, Bibby replied, “I’m not sure.”

USC had a chance to put Oregon State away early when the Beavers missed 10 of their first 11 shots and fell behind, 14-2.

But instead of rolling over, Oregon State made three consecutive three-point shots to get within range, then switched to a 2-3 zone defense to slow the game down and keep USC from exploiting its height advantage.

It worked enough that USC was lulled into a stupor.

And Bibby had the ammunition he needed for one of his halftime “chats.”

“I had that ‘spiritual meeting’ with the guys before the game, at halftime and after the game,” Bibby said.

The Trojans, who made 38% of their shots in the first half, made 53.1% in the second. And USC’s defense harassed the Beavers into 31.5% shooting.

What continues to make this a less-than-exciting season for Bibby, however, is that except on rare occasions he has not seen more than one or two players play solidly at the same time.

Besides Clancy, Bibby called out starters Brandon Granville, David Bluthenthal and Jeff Trepagnier for “not being ready to play” Saturday. Granville made four of seven three-point shots, scored 12 points and had seven assists.

“We could have played better,” Granville said. “We could have gotten after their shooters more in the first half. I know I wasn’t looking past Oregon State because every game is important in the Pac-10. For a group that’s been together two to three years, that’s something we need to realize.”

Bluthenthal scored 11 points and made his 42nd consecutive free throw in conference play in the second half, breaking the Pac-10 record set by by Stanford’s Todd Lichti in 1989. The streak ended when he missed his next attempt.

“I’m happy I beat [the record]. But I wanted to kill it,” Bluthenthal said. “But the most important thing is we got the win, and got some much needed momentum going into next week.”

There was no chance the Trojans had an eye on top-ranked Stanford, its Thursday opponent at Palo Alto?

“I don’t know how they could think of that. The team on the schedule was Oregon State,” Bibby said. “Stanford was not important at this moment.”

It will be Thursday.

And no one can afford to take that night off.