Usc Trips Uninspired Cougs WSU Comes Out Flat, Falls 83-81 On 3-Pointer With .4 Seconds Left

The biggest collective heart in the Pacific-10 Conference no longer belongs to Washington State. Not in the opinion of Cougars coach Kevin Eastman, anyway.

But the biggest heartache still does.

The Cougars, seemingly sapped of spirit following Thursday night’s courageous overtime loss to 20th-ranked UCLA, came out flat against Southern California Saturday afternoon and paid with an 83-81 upset loss to the Trojans.

USC’s Brandon Martin, after scoring all of four points in the game’s first 39 minutes and 59 seconds, hit a 3-pointer from deep in the right corner just before the final buzzer to turn out the lights on a plucky WSU comeback and stun a Friel Court crowd of about 4,500.

Martin’s game-winner came less than 8 seconds after point guard Donminic Ellison had put WSU up 81-80 with a pair of pressure free throws and brought a fitting end to the game’s frantic final moments.

It also helped the Trojans even their Pac-10 record at 1-1 and raise their overall mark to 8-5. But it didn’t strike Eastman as being nearly as crucial as his team’s uninspired start.

“It’s real simple, we’re 0-2 (in the Pac-10) and we’ve had streaks of softness,” Eastman said after watching his Cougars slip to 7-3 overall, despite a return to once-friendly Friel. “The game was won in the first 10 minutes of play, when we played soft and were not aggressive and USC understood that, ‘Hey, we can beat Washington State here.’

“What our guys have to understand is their level of play isn’t as high as they think it is. Everybody can talk about (how) UCLA took a lot out of us, but it’s college basketball. A lot of teams have to come back after big games. This particular group doesn’t know how, yet.”

While WSU was in its early stupor, USC ran away to a 21-11 lead in the first 10 minutes. That forced the Cougars to play catch-up the rest of the way, and they weren’t very good at it.

“We know college basketball is a game of spurts,” said Ellison, who had no concrete answer for his team’s poor start. “But I think 10 minutes is a little long for a spurt.”

With senior forward Mark Hendrickson still sidelined with a broken hand and leading scorer Isaac Fontaine unable to operate from under the smothering defensive blanket that USC’s Stais Boseman threw over him, it took WSU until midway through the second half to make up for its early sins.

But once the Cougars did, Trojans reserve Jaha Wilson tossed down a couple of acrobatic baskets and two free throws to fuel a 13-3 run that put WSU in a 67-57 hole with just more than 7 minutes left.And That’s when Fontaine, who fin ished with 22 points despite being held scoreless for the first 18 minutes, was able to free himself to score 12 consecutive points that carried the Cougars from six down to four ahead - 79-75 - with 1:01 remaining.

By then, however, WSU had little left. After Cameron Murray, who led USC’s scoring with 18 points, buried a 3-pointer from deep on the right wing, Wilson picked Ellison’s pocket and later scored over Tavares Mack to put USC up 80-79.

Ellison seemed to atone for his untimely turnover with his two late free throws. But after Eastman called a timeout to set up his defense, Boseman dribbled quickly up court with the inbounds pass, ran his defender off a hard screen and fed the ball to Martin in the corner.

Trojans coach Charlie Parker said he reminded his players during that final timeout of the miracle length-of-the-floor run and subsequent game-winning basket that Tyus Edney made for UCLA in last year’s NCAA tourney win over Missouri.

“I told them it’s not going to be nearly as big a miracle, but we’re still going to win,” Parker explained. “We had our best shooters in there. Stais didn’t have (the shot), so he did the next best thing, he swung it to Martin and he made the shot.”

Boseman finished with 14 points and four assists, but cost his team when he made a loud and vulgar call for the basketball from teammate Tyson Reuter with 6:31 left.

A nearby official immediately slapped a technical foul on the sophomore guard. USC was up 67-58 at the time, but Fontaine made both free throws to ignite the comeback.

Next up for the Cougars is a road swing through Oregon.

Southern Cal 83, Washington St. 81

Southern California (8-5) - Boseman 6-15 1-3 14, Strong 1-2 1-2 3, Jones 5-11 1-1 11, Murray 7-10 3-5 18, Martin 3-9 0-1 7, Dawson 0-0 0-0 0, Reuter 3-6 2-2 9, Wilson 5-9 3-4 13, Crouse 3-6 2-2 8. Totals 33-68 13-20 83.

Washington State (7-3) - Daniel 5-8 6-11 16, Mack 4-6 1-2 9, Fontaine 6-11 8-8 22, Antrum 3-11 5-6 11, Ellison 6-13 2-2 16, Scott 0-3 2-2 2, Johnson 2-3 1-2 5. Totals 26-55 25-33 81.

Halftime-Southern Cal 39, Washington St. 37. 3-Point goals- Southern Cal 4-10 (Boseman 1-4, Murray 1-2, Martin 1-1, Reuter 1-3), Washington St. 4-15 (Fontaine 2-4, Ellison 2-7). Fouled out- Jones, Crouse. Rebounds-Southern Cal 38 (Wilson 10), Washington St. 34 (Daniel 8). Assists-Southern Cal 10 (Boseman 4), Washington St. 11 (Ellison 4). Total fouls-Southern Cal 24, Washington St. 17. Technicals-2. A-9,843.

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