Jan. 12, 2000
By BETH HARRIS
AP Sports Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Southern California ended six years of frustration against UCLA with a 91-79 victory Wednesday night that snapped their 10-game losing skid to their crosstown rival.
"This is a big win for us," center Brian Scalabrine said. "You look at the Pac-10 standings and we're in first place alone for at least 24 hours. For us, that's great since everyone picked us as seventh to ninth in the Pac-10."
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. The second-ranked Wildcats play Washington State tonight.
USC coach Henry Bibby beat his alma mater for the first time in seven games. He played on three consecutive NCAA championship teams under John Wooden in the early 1970s in Westwood.
"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."
USC's last win over UCLA also came at the Sports Arena in 1994.
This time, 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."
Jeff Trepagnier led five starters in double figures with a career-high 26 points. Sam Clancy added 18 points, Brandon Granville 17, Brian Scalabrine 15 and David Bluthenthal 12.
A crowd of 10,001 was on its feet shouting out reminders of how USC's football team 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."
It definitely wasn't UCLA's.
The Bruins (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 with less than 30 minutes to spare.
"It was probably a Trojan bus driver," UCLA coach Steve Lavin said.
The Bruins, unranked by The Associated Press this week for the first time in nearly two years, never led in the game.
The Trojans shot 49 percent - the best of any UCLA opponent this season. They controlled the boards 45-35, with Bluthenthal grabbing a career-high 12 and Trepagnier 10.
"We were soft," UCLA's Jerome Moiso said. "Just soft. That's what it comes down to."
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," 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."
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.
Kapono led the Bruins with a career-high 21 points. Earl Watson added 18 points and Moiso 12. The Bruins never made a run in the second half, when they faced a double-digit deficit.
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.
"This is one of our biggest wins," Bluthenthal said. "I think all of our opponents underestimate us. We like to show we're not going to lay down."