Turnovers Pop Up at Bad Time for USC

It’s hard to win a shootout when you’re low on bullets.

Even harder when you misfire.

USC found out exactly how tough it was in blowing a five-point lead against 18th-ranked California with less than two minutes to play, the Trojans dropping their season-high fourth consecutive game, 84-82, on Saturday night.

“This one hurts more than any because we were playing well,” Trojan Coach Henry Bibby said. “We had control of the game.”

An Errick Craven basket with 2:06 remaining gave USC an 81-76 advantage and the Sports Arena crowd of 6,217 was feeling it.

But after Cal sophomore forward Amit Tamir converted a pair of free throws to cut the lead to three, the Trojan meltdown, which included three turnovers in the final 82 seconds, began in earnest.

With USC running down the clock, center Kostas Charissis attempted a behind-the-back pass to an oncoming Gregg Guenther in the lane.

One problem: Guenther pulled up short and Cal forward Conor Famulener grabbed the ball.

Famulener then buried a three-point shot from the right wing to tie the score at 81-81 with the shot clock winding down and 53.9 seconds left in the game.

“You always look at yourself in these situations,” Charissis said. “My turnover cost us the game.”

Not yet, anyway.

On the Trojans’ next possession, Desmon Farmer lost the ball near the top of the key (replays showed that he appeared to be fouled by Cal point guard A.J. Diggs) and Famulener came up with it out of the scramble.

Brian Wethers was fouled, and he made both free throws with 15.9 seconds left to give the Bears an 83-81 lead.

But USC was not done.

Taking the inbounds pass, sophomore point guard Derrick Craven, who had to play the entire game with senior Robert Hutchinson absent due to “personal reasons” and junior Roy Smiley sitting out his second consecutive game because of a sprained right knee, went the length of the floor and was fouled.

Craven, though, missed the first attempt before making the second to get USC within a point with seven seconds to go.

Cal senior forward Joe Shipp, who had a game-high 29 points, was fouled on the inbounds pass. He made the first free throw with 5.8 seconds on the clock and missed the second, Guenther grabbing the rebound and passing to Farmer.

Farmer tried to split a pair of Cal defenders but went down in a heap in the lane as the clock expired, USC failing to even get off a shot while dropping to 10-13 overall, 5-9 in the Pacific 10 Conference with four games to play before the league tournament.

Cal, meanwhile, improved to 19-5 and 12-3 while completing the regular-season sweep of the Trojans.

“They were stepping up in there, but I don’t know if they tripped me or if I fell on my own,” said Farmer, who led USC with 21 points but had four turnovers. “It’s real frustrating, but it happened. I’m not going to sulk about it.”

Said Bibby: “We wanted Derrick Craven to drive and kick it out or go for the layup. But [Guenther] got the ball up to Des and he had it in the open court. But I don’t know what happened.”

Bibby then asked reporters what they saw on the final play and when told that it appeared Farmer merely lost his balance, Bibby shrugged.

“That’s not good,” he said. “We have other options we have to go with. But we have to get a shot off. That’s the key. Make it or miss it, somehow, we’ve got to get a shot.”