USC handles slowdown before losing in a hurry

It was like a 100-mph fastball following a Barry Zito curve, the ultimate change of pace from a Washington State team so leisurely that spectators could seemingly doze off for the first 30 seconds of each possession and not miss anything.

When USC junior guard Gabe Pruitt’s three-point basket from the side gave the Trojans a one-point lead with nine seconds left Saturday at the Galen Center, the Cougars suddenly had to abandon their slow-it-down approach and switch to running mode.

They got the ball to junior guard Kyle Weaver, whose frantic jump shot over Nick Young from about eight feet with four seconds remaining gave Washington State the lead for good in a 58-55 victory.

“It’s heartbreaking,” freshman forward Taj Gibson said. “You feel like you have the game won and then they come back and hit a game-winner on you? It’s one of the baddest feelings in the world.”

All the momentum the Trojans had garnered from consecutive victories over nationally ranked teams seemed to vanish after the Cougars overcame an 11-point deficit in the last 12 minutes 48 seconds.

“Everybody was tearing in there,” Young said, referring to the locker room. “Everybody was in there with their heads down.”

USC, 11-4 overall and 1-1 in the Pacific 10 Conference, appeared on the brink of its first 2-0 start in conference play in five years when Pruitt’s three-pointer over guard Derrick Low gave the Trojans a 55-54 lead and sent the crowd of 5,924 into a frenzy.

USC had tried to get the ball to Gibson on consecutive possessions, but the Cougars (12-2, 1-1) fronted the Trojans’ big man to deny him any chance of getting an easy basket.

“I saw the clock was running down,” Pruitt said, “so I knew I had to get one up and it went in for me.”

Even though the Trojans scrambled to get back on defense, Coach Tim Floyd did not fault his players for their effort on Weaver’s go-ahead basket.

“We were between Weaver and the basket,” Floyd said. “I thought he just made a big-time play.”

With USC trailing, 56-55, Young dribbled a few steps beyond midcourt and was called for a charge on Weaver, giving Washington State the ball with 1.4 seconds to go. Gibson then fouled Robbie Cowgill with 0.6 of a second left, and the junior forward made both free throws to set the final margin.

Cowgill slapped away sophomore forward Keith Wilkinson’s inbounds pass to end the game.

Although the Trojans established a pattern of letdowns in conference play last season -- they lost to Arizona State after beating Arizona and fell to Oregon after defeating UCLA -- Floyd made it clear that he did not put a loss to the unranked but up-and-coming Cougars in that category.

“We feel like Washington State is as good as any of the teams that we’re playing in the first six games” of the conference schedule, Floyd said. “This is an NCAA tournament team in my opinion.”

The Trojans appeared on the verge of pulling away for an easy victory when Lodrick Stewart made a three-pointer to give USC a 38-27 lead with 12:48 remaining.

First-year Washington State Coach Tony Bennett signaled for a timeout, and the good vibes inside the Galen Center intensified when the crowd cheered the arrival of the Trojans football team.

But the Cougars began to find their touch from the perimeter and scored on several put-backs, pushing ahead, 47-46, on forward Daven Harmeling’s three-pointer with 5:18 left. The Trojans would not lead again until Pruitt’s three-pointer.

“We almost had the game at that point,” said Young, who scored 10 of his game-high 14 points in the second half. “We just needed a big stop on defense, but they pushed the ball up the court and made a good shot.”

ben.bolch@latimes.com