USC’s Loss Has Ugly Aftermath

As wild and exasperating as the final four seconds were for USC on Thursday night, a stretch that included a disputed foul call and a near-miss on a buzzer-beater, they served as only an undercard to the nearly riotous scene that ensued.

Stanford guard Chris Hernandez had just secured Stanford’s 58-56 victory at Maples Pavilion on a pair of free throws with four seconds left when Trojan Coach Tim Floyd tried to voice his displeasure with official Deron White on his way off the floor.

White had called USC sophomore guard Gabe Pruitt for a blocking call on a play on which Hernandez appeared to slip, sending the Pacific 10 Conference’s best free-throw shooter to the line with the score tied.

After Hernandez made both attempts, the first one dropping in after it rolled around the rim, USC guard Ryan Francis missed a running jumper at the buzzer.

Then things really got crazy. Floyd appeared to be jawing at White when a security guard yanked the coach away, and a shoving match ensued involving security guards, Trojan players and the team manager near the USC bench.

“I just told the officials what I thought,” a terse Floyd said afterward, refusing to elaborate.

USC junior guard Lodrick Stewart, who was in the middle of the fracas, said he also thought fans entered the fray.

“It was fans on the first level coming down where our bench was at,” Stewart said. “I just jumped in between everybody. I didn’t want our team to look like thugs.”

The ending and its aftermath overshadowed a fine defensive effort by the Trojans, who had clawed back from an eight-point deficit early in the second half. Pruitt, returning from a five-game absence caused by a broken bone in his left knee, scored 13 points in 38 minutes, though he made only four of 13 shots.

Pruitt’s fourth three-pointer made it 43-43 with 9:54 left, and he later missed another three-pointer that would have given the Trojans a five-point lead.

The teams exchanged the lead several times before USC junior center Abdoulaye N’diaye made a baby hook with 13 seconds left to tie the score, 56-56.

Hernandez, guarded by Pruitt, then drove toward the basket and tumbled to the floor along with his defender.

“I thought he flopped on that play,” Pruitt said. “I thought I stood in front of him.”

Said Stewart: “That was a bad call. You shouldn’t decide who wins or loses on a call with four seconds left on the clock.”

Floyd declined to comment on the call when asked afterward by reporters. “They won’t let me comment on it,” he said.

Said Hernandez: “He [Pruitt] was giving me some space and I felt like he was kind of off balance. I gave him a hesitation and got a step on him. Then he moved into me. Maybe he was trying to take a charge. He came over and knocked me down.”

Stewart finished with a game-high 17 points for the Trojans, who lost for the first time in four Pac-10 games when outrebounding their opponent. USC has lost five of seven games to fall to 17-11 overall and 8-9 in the Pac-10.

Getting back Pruitt, their second-leading scorer, didn’t mean as much as it might have for the Trojans in the first half because Nick Young, their leading scorer, pulled a disappearing act. The sophomore swingman missed all five of his shots in the first 20 minutes but rebounded with a strong second half in which he scored all 10 of his points.

“I started getting more aggressive,” Young said. “I felt I had to attack the basket.”

Hernandez had 16 points for Stanford (15-11, 11-6), which made only 36.5% of its shots and uncharacteristically missed three free throws in the final minutes to keep the game close. Hernandez, who had made 70 of 73 free throws in Pac-10 play before the game, missed one of two with 4:01 left.

Given another chance by White’s call in the final seconds, the senior guard came through.

“I thought the whistle was late,” Pruitt said. “... I don’t think it was a foul.”

Said Young: “To lose like that on the last second on a flop, that makes it harder.”

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.