University Southern California Trojans
Men's Basketball Defeats Washington State
June 21, 1999 | Men's Basketball
February 27, 1999
LOS ANGELES- Stating a case for a N-I-T bid, USC routed Washington State 83-62 and clinched a winning season in their final regular season home game at the nostalgic L.A Sports Arena.
Center Brian Scalabrine scored 20 points and senior guard Elias Ayuso pumped in 18 as the Trojans (14-11 6-10) completed a weekend sweep of the Washington schools.
That's also three wins in the last four games, two of which are against NCAA tourney bound teams Stanford and Washington. Plus, the winning campaign comes after only nine victories all of last season.
Coach Henry Bibby's team played tremendous defense, harrassing the Cougars (10-18 4-13) into just 39-percent shooting from the field and forcing 22 turnovers.
For WSU, Center Eddie Miller scored 15. But leading scorer Jan-Michael Thomas, who lit up SC for 21 in a Cougar victory earlier this season at Pullman, was limited to only 6 because of Ayuso's defensive effort. Ayuso also nabbed six big steals and nailed four three-pointers, three to ignite the second half romp.
6-4 Trojan swingman Jeff Trepagnier put on a dazzling mid-air show again with alley-oop and tomahawk slams. He scored 11 points to go along with a game-high eight rebounds and three steals.
Troy and their N-I-T hopes travel to Arizona for the final two games of the regular season against the Wildcats and Sun Devils.
Quotes-
USC Coach Henry Bibby
"We're doing some good things. I hope its maturity. Three years from now, we'll know how good we are. It means everything to have a winning season. That's progress. I've been very pleased and proud of the group. We are so young, and we have made a lot of progress.
(On the big second half)
"We came out and set the tone. We were very aggressive and went on a 17-2 run. Its what we've wanted from the beginning. Everything worked. Our defense created some easy baskets. We were unselfish."
USC Guard Elias Ayuso
"We got going, our defense got going in the second half. It's kind of sad it came this fast. I wanted to win. This is my last home game.
(On deserving a N-I-T bid)
"Yes we do. We have a good chance. We're playing well right now."
