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Wednesday, Jan. 12 10:30pm ET
Fifth straight win very sweet for USC | |||||
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LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The streak is over. Jeff Trepagnier scored a career-high 26 points and Southern California beat UCLA 91-79 Wednesday night, ending a 10-game losing streak to its crosstown rival and giving coach Henry Bibby his first win over his alma mater.
Bibby, who played on three consecutive NCAA championship teams under John Wooden in the early 1970s, had lost six straight games to the Bruins (No. 25 ESPN/USA Today, unranked AP) since becoming USC coach four years ago. "I enjoyed the victory because I played over there," Bibby said. "They have tons of tradition and we're trying to step up to that." The Trojans (10-5, 3-0 Pac-10) won their fifth straight and took over first place from idle Arizona with their best conference start in six years. "This is one of our biggest wins," forward David Bluthenthal said. "I think all of our opponents underestimate us. We like to show we're not going to lay down." USC's last win over UCLA also came at the Sports Arena in 1994. The Trojans equaled the most points ever scored in a victory over UCLA, and the 12-point win was their largest against the Bruins since a 15-point win in 1986. "They flat-out kicked our butt," UCLA freshman Jason Kapono said. "I could use harsher words than that. We knew everything we had to do and we just didn't do it. We got beat to everything." A raucous crowd was on its feet throughout the second half and late in the game fans shouted out reminders of how USC's football ended an eight-game losing streak to UCLA with a win last fall. "We were just trying to do what football did," Bibby said. "We want to change things here. It was our time, it was our night to do it." UCLA (9-4, 1-2) got off to bad start even before tipoff. The team bus was caught in a massive traffic jam around the Sports Arena and Los Angeles Coliseum, where a soccer game was played, forcing the players to get out and sprint to the arena less than 30 minutes before tipoff. The Trojans got double figure scoring from all five of their starters. Sam Clancy had 18 points, Brandon Granville 17, Brian Scalabrine 15 and Bluthenthal 12 points. USC dominated the boards 45-35, with Bluthenthal grabbing a career-high 12 rebounds and Trepagnier 10. "We've got guys who can really rebound and I think this was the best effort we've had all year on the boards," said Granville, who had 10 assists. "It's definitely sweet getting this win. We were concentrating on every possession, make a defensive stop and connect to offense." Kapono led the Bruins with a career-high 21 points. Earl Watson added 18 points and Jerome Moiso 12. Those three carried the Bruins for much of the second half, when they couldn't erase a double-digit deficit. The Bruins, who tumbled out of the Associated Press Top 25 this week for the first time in two years, never led in the game. USC shot 51 percent in the first half when the Trojans led by 13. For the game, the Trojans shot 49 percent -- the best any opponent has done against UCLA this season. USC opened the second half with a 20-13 run to take a 66-47 lead. Trepagnier, Clancy, Scalabrine and Granville combined for all USC's points in the spurt, capped by Clancy's three-point play with 12:57 remaining. "We sent a message to everyone that we're an improving team," Clancy said. Clancy worked well inside against UCLA's big men, Dan Gadzuric and Moiso. At one point, the 5-foot-9 Granville scored over the 6-11 Gadzuric. "Hats off to USC. They played great on both ends," UCLA coach Steve Lavin said. "They really dominated in the paint and did a great job posting our big guys up. In transition, they beat us down the floor and beat us on the boards." Trepagnier scored six straight points that included one of his patented rim-rattling dunks to give USC its largest lead, 77-57, with 8:18 left. UCLA never got closer than the final margin of 12 points the rest of the way.
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