Trojans Grow a Little in 74-68 Win

However one defines the “learning process,” it rarely happens quickly for young teams.

Exhibit A was visible at the Sports Arena on Saturday in the shape of the USC men’s basketball team, playing Brigham Young.

Experienced, confident squads usually don’t cough up 18-point second-half leads. The Trojans almost gave up the game but did manage to hold on to a 74-68 victory.

Gabe Pruitt had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Nick Young added 14 for the Trojans (4-2), who won their fourth straight. The loss ended BYU’s (3-2) three-game winning streak.

“We’re real happy with the win,” USC Coach Tim Floyd said. BYU “won at Washington State, a team in our conference, and they had four guys out there who could shoot it.

“We’re a growing team, and I felt we got a little bit better today. But playing with a lead is part of learning how to win. We put them on the foul lines a little too much, missed a couple of layups, got stuck on [58 points] for about six minutes and let the lack of offense influence us defensively. You’ve got to play through that.”

BYU forward Trent Plaisted had 20 points but fouled out on a charge with 2:32 to play and the game still in doubt. It was one of several ways that the Cougars hurt themselves, which included shooting 37.3% on field goals (22 of 59) and missing 10 of 28 free throws.

USC didn’t shoot all that much better -- 40.7% (22 of 54) -- and was outrebounded, 41-32. But the Trojans’ quick man-to-man defense kept BYU out of rhythm much of the night. So even when USC wasn’t scoring, the Cougars had trouble taking advantage.

The Cougars quickly established the 6-foot-11 Plaisted on the inside with several lob passes over the Trojans, which Plaisted easily converted into layups. With USC forced to pay more attention to Plaisted, guards such as Jimmy Balderson (13 points) and Keena Young had more space to take jumpers.

If BYU had made a few more of their early shots, they could have put the Trojans in a deep hole. But the biggest lead the Cougars could amass was 15-7. And USC, shooting cold in the first 10 minutes, began to thaw.

A three-pointer by Pruitt at the 6:50 mark gave USC its first lead, 17-16. Five minutes later, a three-pointer by Young gave USC its largest margin of the half, 34-22. The lead was still 34-26 at halftime.

Things didn’t get much better initially for BYU in the second half. The Cougars momentarily cut the deficit to 36-31 with 18:16 to play, but then imploded under the weight of rushed shots and excessive fouls over the next nine minutes as the Trojans pulled out to a 58-40 spread.

That didn’t mean the game was over. USC had its lull, and the Cougars capitalized enough to close within 65-64 with 1:41 remaining. But BYU never got in front.

The near comeback wasn’t enough to appease Cougar Coach Dave Rose.

“We were just slow and played tentative from their pressure,” Rose said. “It took until [late in] the second half for our guys to play the way they can play.”