Trojans in Fabulous Form

From the first time he picked up a basketball, David Bluthenthal wanted to play at UCLA. But the USC senior forward was never offered an official visit to Westwood.

Errick Craven thought about becoming a Bruin, but he and his twin brother Derrick wanted to play together and UCLA didn’t have enough scholarships. They both landed at USC.

Think UCLA Coach Steve Lavin wishes he had made room now?

With Bluthenthal leading the Trojans early and Craven creating late, unranked USC earned some respect Thursday night, outlasting No. 11 UCLA, 81-77, in front of 15,903 at the Forum.

In extending their winning streak to nine games, USC’s longest since 1992, the Trojans improved to 13-2 overall, 5-0 in Pacific 10 Conference play. The Bruins saw their nine-game winning streak end and fell to 11-3, 4-1.

UCLA had won 13 of the previous 14 games between the schools.

USC Coach Henry Bibby, who had lost nine of 10 meetings against his alma mater, downplayed the game’s significance.

“It’s just another basketball game,” said Bibby, who won three NCAA titles as the Bruins’ point guard from 1970-72. “This game is no more important than Washington or Washington State. We did what we needed to do at home and now we hope we can go on the road and get splits. From the standpoint of taking the conference lead, it’s a good win.”

Senior power forward Sam Clancy led USC with 19 points and 12 rebounds, his seventh double-double of the season, while Bluthenthal had 16 points and 18 rebounds. Both played 40 minutes.

UCLA forward Matt Barnes scored a career-high 34 points and made a school-record seven three-pointers.

Some of Brandon Granville’s worst games as a collegian have occurred against the Bruins. The senior point guard more than made up for them Thursday.

After taking a blow to the right eye less than two minutes into the game, Granville was poked in the same eye trying to take a charge and came out with 9:09 remaining in the game with blurred vision.

“I couldn’t pass seeing three guys out there,” he said .

When Granville came out, USC clung to a three-point lead, 57-54. When Granville returned, with 1:49 to play, the Trojans led by five, 71-66, under the direction of junior Robert Hutchinson.

Granville made five of six free throws down the stretch.

“It’s a big rivalry to us,” said Granville, who had 18 points, three assists and two steals without a turnover in 33 minutes.

“Ray Young and some of their guys tried to downplay it, saying that Duke and Arizona were their rivals. We took that kind of personally. That’s why we came out and played the way we did.”

USC shot only 25% (11 of 44) in the first half but still led by eight at intermission, 37-29, after limiting the Bruins to one field goal in the final four minutes.

The Trojans had 19 offensive rebounds in the first half and did not commit a turnover.

For the game, USC shot 37.3%, while UCLA made 46.6%. But USC outrebounded UCLA, 46-33, with 24 offensive rebounds.

“We did a poor job boxing out,” Lavin said. “USC did a great job attacking the glass. They had too many second, third and fourth opportunities in the first half. They were playing volleyball off the backboard.”

Bluthenthal had his second double-double of the season by halftime, with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

“We weren’t going to back down from anybody,” Bluthenthal said. “They’re UCLA and they have that, what’s the word, a lot of clout ... but no way they were going to outrebound us or out-physical us tonight. No way.”

After being down by as many as nine points in the opening minutes of the second half, UCLA used a glut of three-pointers to get back in it.

The Bruins tied the score at 62-62 with 4:17 remaining on a Barnes three-pointer. He blew on his fingers as he turned to play defense.

However, those same fingers released a lazy cross-court pass less than a minute later when Craven stole the ball and went in for a layup.

“Today I was a little overanxious because I heard about [the importance of beating UCLA],” said Craven, who had 13 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals in 28 minutes.

“I was just trying to do too much.”

Even with its rash of three-pointers at the end, five in the last five minutes, UCLA was forced to foul, setting the stage for Granville at the free-throw line.

“It’s my second victory against them and I’m definitely looking to get another,” Granville said. “We’re not trying to get too big-headed. It’s early on in the Pac-10 season, but it’s good to be 5-0 in the Pac-10 and alone in first place.”

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Bibby vs. UCLA

Under Coach Henry Bibby, USC has beaten UCLA twice in 11 tries. The breakdown:

2001-02

at USC 81 UCLA 77

2000-01

UCLA 80 at USC 75

at UCLA 85 USC 76

1999-2000

at USC 91 UCLA 79

at UCLA 83 USC 78

1998-99

UCLA 98 at USC 80

at UCLA 68 USC 63

1997-98

at UCLA 101 USC 84

UCLA 82 at USC 75

1996-97

UCLA 96 at USC 87

at UCLA 82 USC 60

POINTS PER GAME

UCLA 84.6

USC 77.3

POINTS PER GAME AT UCLA

UCLA 83.8

USC 72.2

POINTS PER GAME AT USC

UCLA 85.3

USC 83.2