USC Plays It Loose, Closes Fast to Win

Blowing a 15-point lead in the final 10 minutes is never a good thing.

But USC will glean positives from wherever it can.

So while it would be easy to view USC’s white-knuckle, 75-69 victory over Cal State Northridge at the Sports Arena on Sunday afternoon as the precursor to a long and trying season for the Trojans, they are instead looking at it as a sign of maturity.

Especially since USC, which committed 22 turnovers, suited up only eight scholarship players and had two foul out.

“We would have lost this game last year,” Coach Henry Bibby said, reflecting on the Trojans’ penchant for folding down the stretch during a 13-17 season in which they were 5-12 in games decided by 10 points or fewer.

“But the kids dug down in the last two minutes. We had hit a dry spell but they hung in there. I’m happy to get out of here with a win.”

Trojan senior guard Desmon Farmer scored a game-high 26 points, including six three-pointers, and had eight rebounds. Junior guard Davin White led Northridge with 19 points.

USC (1-1) led, 61-46, after a Lodrick Stewart jumper with 10:01 remaining and was still ahead, 64-51, after a Derrick Craven free throw with 8:29 to go.

But Northridge (1-2) would not go away, delighting the vocal contingent of Matador fans who were part of the announced crowd of 3,527.

The Matadors, who are 0-4 against USC, went on a 15-2 run and tied the score at 66 on a Joseph Frazier three-pointer from the right corner with 2:55 left. But they scored only three points the rest of the way, making one of four free throws and a layup.

USC, meanwhile, converted seven of eight free throws to stave off the upset.

“When we got down by 15 ... we could have easily quit at that point,” Northridge Coach Bobby Braswell said. “But this team showed a lot of heart and tenacity. We showed a level of competition that will help us to succeed later in the season.

“If we had made some free throws, it would have been a whole different ballgame.”

The first and second halves seemed like different games for the Trojans, who were playing their home opener after being thumped at Western Michigan, 83-65, on Nov. 21.

USC seemed to forget that it had low post players in the first 20 minutes of Sunday’s game, as the Trojan guards settled for jump shots from the perimeter.

“I guess that was my fault,” said junior power forward Jeff McMillan, who had two points and four rebounds in the first half but finished with 13 points and nine rebounds.

“I didn’t establish myself. I made it a point [in the second half] to get us easier points around the basket.”

With the Trojans making a concerted effort to establish some semblance of an inside-out offense, McMillan scored five of their first seven points of the second half.

“We paid more attention to our big men,” Farmer said. “We need them. We need them to rebound so you’ve got to keep your big men happy by giving them touches.”

It was McMillan who broke the 66-66 tie, dunking with 2:35 to play after a driving Derrick Craven had found him in the lane with a pass.

And it was McMillan, a career 44.7% free-throw shooter, who knocked down both shots of a one-and-one opportunity to give USC a 70-67 lead with 1:13 to play.

By then, USC already had lost the services of foul-plagued guard Errick Craven and center Rory O’Neil.

Moreover, freshman guard Quinton Day was serving a one-game suspension for what the school termed “disciplinary reasons.”

“We were more patient,” Farmer said. “Last year, everybody was [forcing it], trying to be the guy that was going to be the one to make the clutch shot.”

Bibby agreed.

“We seemed more calm at the end than last year,” he said. “Our players were in those situations last year.

“It’s good to know we can win these kinds of games.”