Trojans Hang On in Overtime

CORVALLIS, Ore. —  Finally, an ending that Tim Floyd could live with.

His USC Trojans had disobeyed orders in the closing moments of regulation and overtime Thursday night against Oregon State at Gill Coliseum, attempting jump shots at a time when their coach had wanted them to drive toward the basket for higher-percentage opportunities.

All seemed forgiven when Nick Young’s fadeaway jumper just inside the three-point line with 0.8 of a second left in overtime had given the Trojans a 72-70 lead, but controversy followed after Lodrick Stewart leaped to knock the ensuing inbounds pass out of bounds.

Game over, or game on?

Thinking the game was over, Floyd walked toward halfcourt and extended his hand toward Beaver Coach Jay John, who refused to concede defeat because it was not clear whether the final horn had sounded before the ball went out of bounds. Officials huddled around a replay monitor to decide whether the game had ended.

“When I saw the ball go out, the clock didn’t go off yet, so I thought they were going to put extra time back on,” USC guard Gabe Pruitt said.

Said Floyd: “I was trying to replay it in my head, how long it would take. Obviously, it was pretty quick. I think everyone was assuming there would be 0.1 [left], if anything.”

After using a stopwatch to time the final play, in which Stewart had batted away Jack McGillis’ inbounds pass into the paint on the Oregon State side of the floor, officials ruled that the clock had not started at the moment Stewart touched the ball and that the game was indeed over.

Final score: USC 72, Oregon State 70.

Young finished with 25 points, played the final 14:24 with four fouls and made the winning shot for USC, which improved to 13-6 overall and 4-4 in the Pacific 10 Conference.

Freshman guard Ryan Francis made two steals in overtime, Pruitt played tight defense on Oregon State guard Chris Stephens and junior center Abdoulaye N’diaye, struggling with his free-throw shooting, made a couple of big ones in the extra period.

After N’diaye’s free throw with 23 seconds left had given USC a 70-68 lead, Pruitt was called for a foul on Stephens on a play in which Stephens appeared to push off.

“I thought it was a charge,” said Pruitt, who remained on the floor in disbelief for several seconds after picking up his fifth foul. “I felt I was in front of him and I tried to step back and he pushed off, but I guess the refs didn’t see it that way.”

Stephens, the leading free-throw shooter in the Pac-10, made both free throws with 14 seconds left to tie the score.

Young was supposed to drive toward the basket on USC’s final possession but instead pulled up for the winning jumper over Beaver forward Nick DeWitz.

“I saw him stumble a little bit, and once he stumbled I felt like he couldn’t jump to contest the shot,” Young said.

Pruitt had a chance to win the game at the end of regulation, but his three-point attempt drew nothing but air.

The fact the Trojans were in position to win was quite an achievement considering they spotted Oregon State (10-9, 3-5) the game’s first 10 points and appeared on the verge of being blown out for a second consecutive game after losing to UCLA by 21 points last Wednesday.

“I just told them that we were in this situation a week ago and that we didn’t play with poise,” Floyd said. “The only way to catch up in this situation is to defend, and if you’ve got an ounce of pride in you you’ll go guard and then we’ll take good shots and chip away at it.”

After missing their first four shots, the Trojans made 14 of their next 21 to take a 38-29 halftime lead. Oregon State retook the lead midway through the second half and the game was in doubt until Young’s final shot.

“What we didn’t want was a jump shot,” Floyd said. “Thank goodness it went in.”