USC pulls it out in Pullman

USC’s Daniel Hackett was walking down the corridor, headed for the postgame interview. Along the way he took time to console Washington State fans.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry,” Hackett said. “Sorry we had to do that, but that is how life is.”

Strange and unusual things were going on at Friel Court on Saturday.

Trojans Coach Tim Floyd was still around at the end of the game. Forward Nikola Vucevic was making key contributions during the game. And USC players were dancing with childlike glee after a 46-44 victory.

For the first time since 2003, the Trojans headed home without feeling Walla-Walloped in eastern Washington.

“Maybe it’s the long drive to get here, but you always feel like you’ve spent a long day in hell,” said senior forward Keith Wilkinson, who like everyone else on the USC side experienced his first victory in Pullman.

The drive back was significantly better.

The Trojans had lost five consecutive games in Pullman. There was a heartbreaker, the double-overtime loss two seasons ago, and a blowout, last season’s 24-point drubbing. Floyd didn’t see the finish of those low points, having been ejected from those games.

There was a sense of that painful history as the Trojans danced on the court Saturday after rallying, then surviving. As Hackett made two of four free throws in the last 15 seconds, his teammates couldn’t wait to start celebrating after they’d closed the game with a 16-6 run.

“You come in here knowing they are going to make it difficult on you,” said Taj Gibson, who scored 10 consecutive points for the Trojans to bring them back from a 38-30 deficit in the last six minutes.

“Washington State’s players get on you and they are not going to beat themselves. Even up to the end today, I was thinking at the end, ‘Come on Daniel, make these free throws. We can’t go to overtime with these guys.’ We lost in double overtime two years ago and that was the worst moment I’ve had here.”

Hackett, who made six of eight free throws in the last two minutes, disagreed.

“Last year was the worst,” he said. “I played injured, we got blown out and I didn’t play again the rest of the year. This is a frustrating place, that’s why it feels so good to win here.”

Getting in touch with their feelings was a chore for the Trojans.

The Cougars were methodical as a bookkeeper on offense and relentless as a kid brother on defense. But the Trojans gave as good as they got.

“I think our poise was the difference today,” Floyd said. “We didn’t allow ourselves to get frustrated. We didn’t come down and fire up the first shot we got. We were willing to play to the end of the possession, drive to the basket and get to the foul line.”

The Trojans made 19 of 31 free throws. Washington State was perfect from the line, but had only 10 attempts. It tipped the scales in a game in which USC shot 35.1% from the field and the Cougars shot 27.5%.

“That was probably our best effort defensively this season,” Floyd said.

Offensively . . . well, the Trojans found a way.

Vucevic, a freshman making his first start, opened the game with a dunk and finished with eight points and five rebounds. He had scored only 10 points total in his previous eight games.

Marcus Johnson, who had seven points off the bench, made two key plays. He hit a 10-foot jumper and was fouled. The three-point play tied the score, 38-38. Moments later, he spun and put up a high shot, and Aron Baynes was called for goaltending. It gave USC a 42-41 lead.

Hackett took it from there, clinching the victory and consoling the defeated.

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chris.foster@latimes.com