USC
Loyola Marymnt
Trojans Have Little Trouble With Lions
November 25, 2000 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 25, 2000
LOS ANGELES - Brandon Granville stands alone as the top playmaker in Southern California history. Now, he's looking to reach some team goals.
Granville had nine assists to go with 19 points, and Brian Scalabrine rebounded from a scoreless performance with 22 points Saturday night as the No. 20 Trojans beat Loyola Marymount 91-68.
"It's a nice feeling," said Granville, a 5-foot-9 junior who lifted his career total to 412 assists, three more than the previous school record held by Larry Friend, who played at USC from 1983-86. "I knew it would happen early in the season, I'm glad I got it out of the way. It's been on my mind a little bit."
A lot is expected of the Trojans, who returned all five starters from last season, and Granville said expectations should be high.
"That's the plan, that's what everyone's talking about," he said of USC having a first-rate year. "I think we're improving every game. I think it will help once Jeff gets back. There's no replacing the best athlete in college basketball."
Granville was referring to Jeff Trepagnier, who is recovering from a hairline fracture in his left foot. It's hoped Trepagnier, a senior who averaged 15.9 points and 6.6 rebounds last season, will play for the first time this season next Saturday against No. 13 Utah (3-1) in the Wooden Classic at the Anaheim Arena.
Scalabrine, a 6-9, 250-pound senior who averaged a team-leading 17.8 points last season and has started all 61 games in his USC career, played only 11 minutes before fouling out in the Trojans' 78-67 victory over San Diego on Tuesday night.
It was a different story against the outmanned Lions as the Scalabrine-led Trojans dominated the inside.
"I didn't think about that," Scalabrine said of the game against San Diego. "I didn't play smart, I played smarter tonight. I just went out and played, did what I was supposed to do. I was a little bummed the other night, I had to come back and play, it was a big game for them."
Freshman Desmon Farmer added 14 points and seven rebounds, and Sam Clancy had 11 points and seven rebounds for the Trojans (3-0), who led 47-34 at halftime and broke the game open early in the second half.
Robert Davis led the Lions (1-2), who have lost 21 straight road games, with a career-high 21 points and Elton Mashack had 15 points and eight rebounds. Pablo Machado, Loyola's leading scorer entering the game, had eight points before fouling out with 8:25 left.
"Scalabrine had a great game, we're disappointed in our defensive effort," first-year Loyola coach Steve Aggers said. "We didn't defend the 3, you shoot 50 percent from behind the 3-point line, you're going to win a lot of games. they had open looks, they hit a lot of shots."
The Trojans were 12-of-24 from beyond the 3-point line and hit 29 of their 61 shots overall.
"I thought we played better than we had in the two previous games," USC coach Henry Bibby said. "We played better defensively, and we got some easy baskets. We got Brian out of the little lull that he's been in and he played well. We need him every night at this level for us to be a competitive team."
Granville broke Friend's record by setting up Tyler Murphy for a 3-pointer early in the second half, giving USC a 65-41 lead.
Granville scored six straight points to trigger a 13-3 run that gave the Trojans a 23-14 lead, and they were on top the rest of the way.
Loyola drew within three points before the Trojans ran off 11 straight for a 35-21 lead with 5 1/2 minutes left before halftime, and the Lions weren't closer than nine points after that.
By JOHN NADEL
AP Sports Writer
