USC
Oregon
No. 25 Trojans Hold Off Oregon, 78-74
January 25, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 25, 2001
No. 25 Southern California 78, Oregon 74
By KEN PETERS
AP Sports Writer
LOS ANGELES - The No. 25 Southern California Trojans played 35 minutes of solid basketball, then held on nervously.
Up by 16 with 5:08 remaining, the Trojans were outscored 18-5 over the next 3:37 before finally putting Oregon away 78-74 Thursday night.
Sam Clancy had 21 points and five blocks and Brian Scalabrine added 20 points for USC (14-4, 4-2 Pacific-10).
Despite their furious finish, the Ducks (11-5, 2-4) got no closer than three points in the waning moments.
Frederick Jones had 21 points in the loss, and Bryan Bracey had 20.
"I thought we lost our defensive intensity down the stretch," Trojans coach Henry Bibby said. "We gave up too much penetration to the basket and didn't sustain the energy level we had. We broke down defensively and gave them easy baskets.
"We can't give up a lead like that. We can't give up 49 points in the second half."
Clancy agreed, saying, "We just started breaking down defensively and they just kept penetrating. The important thing is, we got a win, and that's what we were here to do."
Bibby was pleased with some aspects of the Trojans' game.
"Sam Clancy dominated," the USC coach said. "He did everything during that stretch (building a 16-point lead) to get us up there. Brian Scalabrine had a nice game but got in foul trouble.
"Jeff Trepagnier is getting back in the swing of things. He played well."
Trepagnier had 12 points while playing 34 minutes.
The Trojans were up 68-52 with 5:08 remaining before the Ducks narrowed the gap to 73-70 on Jones' layup and free throw with 1:31 left.
But Clancy hit a jumper to build the lead back to 75-70 with one minute remaining, and the Ducks got no closer than three the rest of the way.
"I don't want to call this a moral victory," Oregon coach Ernie Kent said. "To play this tough against a Top 25 team in their home, I hope our guys understand what it was about. We put ourselves in position to win it, but we didn't get it done."
Scalabrine had nine rebounds as the Trojans dominated the boards 36-18.
The Trojans also held the Ducks 10 points below their average of 84.3 a game, which had ranked them No. 16 nationally in offense.
USC opened a 13-point lead during the first half, was up 35-25 at halftime and seemed in control until Oregon's late rally.
USC snapped a three-game losing streak to Oregon that included two defeats by a total of four points last season. The Trojans hadn't beaten the Ducks since a 63-59 win at the Los Angeles Sports Arena in 1998.
