Trojans Get an Early Start on Loss

There’s no need to worry about late collapses when you play yourself into an inescapable hole.

That was the predicament USC found itself in Thursday night, when it fell behind by 18 points in the first half and couldn’t catch up during an 88-76 loss to No. 12 Arizona in front of 4,415 at the Sports Arena.

Unlike recent losses to Washington State, UCLA and Stanford, in which it disintegrated during the final five minutes, USC didn’t wait nearly as long to falter against the Wildcats.

The Trojans missed their first nine three-point attempts and had no answers for Arizona shooting guard Salim Stoudamire, whose jumpers were a constant threat. Stoudamire scored 16 of his 26 points in the first half, 11 during a 13-0 Wildcat run that gave Arizona a 29-12 lead.

Then, when USC had pulled to within nine at 45-36 early in the second half on a three-point shot by Lodrick Stewart, Stoudamire responded with back-to-back three-pointers to put Arizona back ahead. Stoudamire made nine of 14 shots, including five of seven three-pointers.

“He hit some amazing shots,” USC interim Coach Jim Saia said of Stoudamire, whom he labeled one of the greatest college shooters of all time.

The Wildcats built leads as large as 24 points down the stretch while handing the Trojans, 9-14 overall and 2-10 in the Pacific 10 Conference, their fifth consecutive defeat. Things got so out of hand that USC ended the game with a lineup consisting of reserves Chris Penrose, Greg Gaudino, Andrew Moore and Reed Doucette along with starter Gabriel Pruitt.

Pruitt finished with a team-high 21 points and Nick Young had 18 while playing defense on Stoudamire, who put together his first-half spurt with Young on the bench.

“That’s when he got on fire,” said Young, the freshman who didn’t have as much success guarding Stoudamire in the second half. Young said he mistakenly thought Stoudamire was more of a spot-up shooter than someone who constantly came off screens.

“I had trouble following him around the screens,” Young said.

Center Channing Frye had 14 points for Arizona (20-4, 10-2), which won comfortably even though USC made nine of 15 three-pointers in the second half.

Neither team did much to distinguish itself in the early going until Stoudamire put together the bulk of Arizona’s decisive 13-0 first-half push with a three-point play, two three-pointers and a mid-range pull-up jumper.

“He does this every day,” Arizona Coach Lute Olson said. “If he gets a look and misses, everyone’s shocked.”

Olson became the second Pac-10 coach to win 300 conference games. The record-holder is John Wooden, who guided UCLA to a 304-74 league record before retiring in 1975. Olson’s teams are 300-86 in Pac-10 play.

In the first half, Arizona extended its lead to 18 points before USC came to life with a couple of highlight-reel plays, including a Young lay-in off an alley-oop pass from Stewart and a Young scoop layup after he had beaten two defenders.

The Trojans closed to within nine at halftime on Pruitt’s fadeaway three-pointer at the buzzer, which ended USC’s 0-for-9 skid from beyond the arc.

“We couldn’t make a shot,” Saia said. “We had some open threes, and if they go in it’s a tighter ballgame. We make three or four of those, we might have the lead.”

Saia tried numerous lineups in the first half but failed to find a spark. Errick Craven, who had sat out the Trojans’ last two games with a bone bruise in his right ankle, played five minutes but did not have an effect while hobbling up the court.

“This hurts,” Pruitt said. “I thought the guys gave all they had. You can’t bash them for that.”