University Southern California Trojans
Men's Hoops Falls to Cross-Town Rival UCLA
June 21, 1999 | Men's Basketball
January 21, 1999
Los Angeles - USC Coach Henry Bibby had a perfect gameplan against rival UCLA -- attack the foulprone Bruin interior defense and let their guards fire away from outside.
And it worked.
However, UCLA forwards Jerome Moiso and JaRon Rush led the team to its best three-point shooting game of the season in a 98-80 win before 10,986 at the nostalgic L.A. Sports Arena.
Moiso scored a game-high 17 points and Rush supported with 15. The team totaled a sharp 10 of 16 from behind the arc.
Elias Ayuso hit three three-pointers and finished with 16 points for the hustling Trojans (10-6 2-5). Center Brian Scalabrine and reserve Jarvis Turner added 13 each.
UCLA (13-4 5-2) reserve forward Ray Young hit all five of his shots, including a pair of three-pointers, and scored 12 before fouling out. Heralded guards Baron Davis and Earl Watson also foulded out.
The Men of Troy have a week to regroup before traveling to Washington on the 28th and Washington State the 30th.
Quotes:
USC Coach Henry Bibby-
"They did a lot of right things. We made a lot of bad decisions. And you can't do that in a game like this. Jarvis Turner and Larry Ayuso played well. We scored enough to win. We didn't stop them on the defensive end. (Brian) Scalabrine's 13 points and 8 rebounds. Those are pretty good numbers.
"I thought we hung together. We played a pretty good team that made some shots, and they're not a three-point shooting team. There's not much you could do about that."
USC Guard Elias Ayuso-
"Two things hurt us. They outrebounded us and we didn't play as good on defense as we should. They got the transition game going and then hit a few shots. We've just got to stay positive. There's a lot of Pac-10 left. We've got to stay positive and help each other."
UCLA Coach Steve Lavin-
"It was a critical game for us. Coach Bibby has done a great job and USC is on the verge of becoming a power."
