Hot Hands Carry USC to Victory

More than a dozen NBA scouts from 10 organizations found their way to the Sports Arena on Wednesday night, presumably to catch a glimpse of Cal State Fullerton junior center Pape Sow.

Some other players probably also captured their attention.

Especially after USC sophomore center Rory O’Neil and senior point guard Robert Hutchinson had career nights in the Trojans’ 78-63 win over the Titans in front of 2,096.

O’Neil finished with a career-high 22 points on nine-of-10 shooting and Hutchinson, who came off the bench and wasn’t sure his sore right ankle would allow him to play, scored 17 points, tying for the most in his career. He made his first seven shots and finished seven of eight.

“Seven of eight and nine of 10 is unbelievable,” USC Coach Henry Bibby said as he stared at the stat sheet after the game. “But that’s the way they shoot it in practice.”

It’s not the way they’ve been shooting it in games lately.

O’Neil’s confidence, as well as his body, was bruised by Missouri and its beefy frontcourt in the Tigers’ Wooden Classic victory over the Trojans on Saturday, a game in which O’Neil had just five points on two-of-10 shooting.

A Monday meeting in Bibby’s office reiterated the coach’s faith in O’Neil.

“Coach always says to shoot the ball, to have confidence in myself,” said O’Neil, who also made two three-pointers and had seven rebounds in 33 minutes before fouling out. “He wasn’t going to go away from me because I had one bad game. I had a couple of good looks early and after that things just started rolling for me.

“You just stop thinking about it and start shooting ... and it goes in a lot easier, a lot smoother. You get confidence and once that happens, it’s automatic.”

USC (3-3) was anything but automatic in the early going.

Until Hutchinson, who missed Saturday’s loss with a sprained ankle, entered the game at the 13:36 mark of the first half, the Trojans were listless and trailing, 11-8.

But behind his hot shooting and deft passing, USC found its groove and took off from there, outscoring the Titans, 33-18, the remainder of the half.

“It feels good [to play well], but right now my ankle’s killing me,” said Hutchinson, who also made all three of his three-point attempts and had four assists, three steals and one turnover in 28 minutes. “You’re just playing out there. When you start to think about it, that’s when your game falters.”

The only negative for the Trojans was the loss of junior center Jonathan Oliver, who left the game midway through the first half after hurting his left ankle in a scramble for the ball. He remained in the locker room for the second half with his ankle elevated and iced, and left the arena with his foot in a walking boot.

USC, which shot a season-best 55.6% (10-18) from three-point territory and a season-best 52.8% from the field, eventually built its lead up to a game-high 25 points, 61-36, following a Desmon Farmer three-pointer with 13:33 to play.

The Titans (1-5) were led by sophomore guard Ralphy Holmes’ 21 points. Sow, a 6-foot-10, 250-pounder from Senegal, finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds and three assists.

“I thought we did a good job of getting the ball to Pape Sow,” said Titan Coach Donny Daniels. “USC was able to counter with their size. We have to win games and other guys on this team have to step up.”