Stanford Pulls This Win Out of Thin Air

USC had its foot firmly on Stanford’s throat.

But the Trojans made a mistake -- they allowed the No. 1-ranked Cardinal a gasp of air.

Turned out that was enough to give Stanford a second wind, one that helped it run by USC and hold off a late Trojan charge to pull out a 76-67 victory and remain undefeated before 7,539 at the Sports Arena on Thursday night.

“Stanford’s just a good team, there’s a reason they’re No. 1 in the country,” said USC forward Jeff McMillan, who had his seventh double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds. “They capitalized on every mistake. We can’t make mistakes against them.”

The mistakes, in the form of turnovers, came quickly and in bunches at the beginning of the second half of a loss that dropped USC to 10-13 overall, 5-9 in the Pacific 10 Conference.

Stanford, which was led by junior forward Josh Childress’ 36 points and 11 rebounds, improved to 22-0 and 13-0, and kept alive its hopes of becoming the first team since Nevada Las Vegas in 1991 to enter the NCAA tournament with an unblemished record.

“Nothing has been easy,” said Stanford Coach Mike Montgomery. “Our first win was tough. Every time we play, we are reminded of how hard it is.”

USC, which had built a 13-point lead with 95 seconds remaining in the first half, still led by 10 points, 38-28, one minute into the second half.

The Trojans had been outplaying, outhustling and outthinking the Cardinal, which shot only 34.5% from the field in the first half, including a combined 0 for 9 by point guard Chris Hernandez and shooting guard Matt Lottich.

But when USC turned the ball over on three consecutive possessions, a cherry-picking Lottich was able to convert with easy layups. His confidence back, he began knocking down long three-pointers. Lottich finished with 20 points, 18 after halftime, and Stanford shot 64.3% after the break.

And before USC knew what hit it, Stanford had gone on a game-turning 27-6 run in just over seven minutes to take an 11-point lead, 55-44, with 10:50 to play.

But instead of folding, as had been the case most of the season, USC fought back.

Making the Trojans’ 16-5 run, powered by center Rory O’Neil, all the more impressive was that they did it without scoring contributions from Desmon Farmer, their leading scorer.

Farmer, who entered the game averaging 21.4 points in Pac-10 play, started off hot, scoring 11 points before the game was eight minutes old.

But after running into early foul trouble -- he had three fouls in the first 10:04 and picked up his fourth with 12:40 left to play -- Farmer would not score again.

“The fouls took me out of my rhythm,” Farmer said. “They took away my aggression of going to the basket and creating for my teammates.

“It was very frustrating, but that’s the way it goes sometimes, I guess.”

Farmer, did however, have an issue with the fourth foul called on him, on a play when Childress drove to the basket.

“He wasn’t getting good looks,” Coach Henry Bibby said, trying to explain Farmer’s scoring difficulties. “And sometimes Desmon takes himself out of the game.

“He never got in the flow.”

Even with an ineffective Farmer, USC was still tied with Stanford at 65 with 3:11 to play.

Then Childress drained a three-pointer from the left corner and made another basket that gave the Cardinal a five-point lead, 70-65, with 2:12 to play.

USC missed three of its next five free throws and was forced to foul the rest of the way.

Bibby, never one to revel in moral victories, was doing just that in this instance.

“That’s a win for us,” he said. “You didn’t play a slouch tonight. That’s the best team in the country over there.

“Except for six or seven minutes ... we had them in check.”

The nine USC turnovers were a season low.

Said Montgomery: “The crowd got into it. They got some confidence.

“They are a dangerous team. They scare me.”

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USC recruit Robert Swift, a center from Bakersfield High, was named to the McDonald’s All-American boys’ basketball team on Thursday. The McDonald’s game, which will also include Southland players and UCLA recruits Arron Afflalo and Jordan Farmar, will be played March 31 in Oklahoma City. Swift, who signed with the Trojans in November but has yet to qualify academically, has been contemplating applying for the NBA draft.