Trojans stunned by Sun Devils’ rally

USC is hampered by mistakes and blows a 10-point lead with four minutes remaining.

ARIZONA STATE 83 USC 82

TEMPE, Ariz. — Bennie Boatwright held the ball on the baseline as if it were a lit fuse and counted down in his head from five.

There were 14 seconds and plenty of surprise remaining in what would become a stunning USC loss to Arizona State on Sunday, 83-82, a defeat that would deliver a late blow to the Trojans’ NCAA tournament chances.

The denouement would come seconds later, but USC had sparked the fuse for its implosion with just less than four minutes left, when it led by 10 points. USC Coach Andy Enfield noted later that had the Trojans done anything right in that span — take care of the ball, make a layup, hit free throws … score more than one point — they would have won.

“I’ll take the blame for that,” Enfield said.

Even with as little as 30 seconds left, USC led by six. “We had the game won,” Boatwright said.

But each mistake accu-

mulated, and they weighed on Boatwright and his teammates on a suddenly musthave inbound.

On the baseline, Boatwright counted: “Four.”

The first mistake had been innocuous enough. With 21⁄2 left, with the Trojans up eight, Boatwright threw a pass right into the middle of the defense. Arizona State used the takeaway to cut USC’s lead to five.

Still, the Sun Devils’ defense, the worst in the conference, didn’t offer much reason for optimism. Boatwright scored 22 points and point guard Jordan McLaughlin created 10 assists. Overall, USC shot 56%, its second consecutive contest when it made more than half of its shots in a loss.

But several misses would haunt USC by the time Boatwright was counting to three.

With a bit under three minutes left, McLaughlin missed a layup with his dominant hand, and Arizona State shaved the lead to five.

Almost two minutes later, Chimezie Metu missed one of a pair of free throws. Then shooting guard Elijah Stewart missed a layup.

Tra Holder cut USC’s lead to four.

With 23.2 seconds remaining, when Stewart missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw, the Arizona State fans who had begun making toward the exits halted in the aisles.

“We’ve just got to make free throws,” Enfield said. “We do that, the game’s over.”

Boatwright counted to two.

USC had allowed 10 three-pointers in the first half on 16 attempts, then it tightened after the break. But after Stewart’s miss, Holder, tripping and falling in the lane, nudged a pass to Kodi Justice, a modest-scoring guard who exploded on Sunday for a team-high 22 points. With a hand in his face, Justice made a fadeaway, high-arcing threepointer.

USC’s lead was just one point, when Boatwright counted down to one.

Before the play, Enfield had called a timeout. USC had been in a similar situation the first time it played Arizona State. It led that game by 10 points with 90 seconds left. Turnovers, including a bad inbound pass, had almost cost USC the win.

This time, Enfield gave the play in the huddle.

“We’re always told if you don’t have a good pass, just take the five seconds, regroup the defense and just try to get another stop,” Stewart said.

But Boatwright rushed. The clock in his head had ticked too fast. He saw McLaughlin cut one way and threw to him, just as McLaughlin was planting to cut back the other direction. Torian Graham grabbed the errant toss and passed to Holder, who was fouled.

He made two free throws to go ahead.

McLaughlin raced the ball up and found Boatwright for a desperation three. It hit iron. Boatwright slumped, his arms hanging over his knees. Some players looked up at the scoreboard as if to confirm that USC had indeed lost.

The defeat was not fatal for USC’s NCAA tournament chances. USC is still the only team on the bubble with at least 20 wins other than mid-major Illinois State.

“We’ve just got to take it game by game,” Stewart said. “I feel like we should be fine.”

But the Trojans are no longer a lock. They have lost four games in a row. A loss in its final homestand to Washington State or Washington could knock them out of contention.

“Do I think we’re in right now? No,” Enfield said. “We have to win. We lose the rest of our games this year, I don’t think we can go to the NCAA tournament. But we’re not concerned about that right now.”

Outside the locker room, Boatwright tried to take the blame for the predicament. “This one’s on me,” he said.

Enfield took a longer view. “That play,” he said, “shouldn’t have even determined the game.”