USC Wins--and So Do Losers : Western Washington, NAIA School, Makes It Respectable, 71-57

It was the best of times for the Western Washington basketball team that played USC Saturday at the Sports Arena.

The Vikings, from Bellingham, Wash., weren’t expected to beat the Trojans, and they didn’t. But they lost by a respectable score, 71-57, before a crowd of 2,578.

The NAIA school, after all, just wanted the experience of playing a Division I school and getting a trip to Los Angeles.

“It was the first time our guard, Marcus Buren, had ever been on an airplane,” Viking Coach Brad Jackson said. “We usually travel by van. It was a win-win situation for us, and it was a no-win situation for George Raveling (the USC coach), especially if he didn’t beat us. Our motivational level was probably higher than theirs, and I liked the way we fought.”

Jackson played for Raveling and was later a graduate assistant under him when Raveling was at Washington State in the mid-1970s.

So, when there was an open date on the USC schedule before the conference season began, Raveling filled it for a friend.

For Western Washington, it was a drastic departure from a schedule that includes games with the likes of Sheldon Jackson and Simon Fraser.

By winning, USC improved its record to 4-3. Western Washington is 5-3.

The Trojans don’t have a decided size advantage over most teams, but they did against the Vikings, who didn’t have a player taller than 6 feet 7 inches.

Jackson said his team was intimidated in the first half, and it looked like it as USC had a 41-19 lead by the intermission. The Trojans led by 24 points on several occasions in the second half, but the Vikings persevered, played hard and actually outscored USC, 38-30, in the half.

Raveling emptied his bench, though, and used 13 players. You may not hear of Aaron Dyer again, but the reserve guard got the Trojans’ only three-point basket.

As usual, senior forward Derrick Dowell was USC’s leading scorer, getting 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting. Center Rod Keller supported him with 10 points, while Rich Grande, now the point guard in the absence of injured Dave Wiltz, had 9 points.

“Our incentive level wasn’t very high,” Raveling conceded. “It was a game that probably should have been played at 3 in the afternoon on a beautiful day in Southern California.

“It was a hard game for me because I’m an emotional person. As Abe (Lemons, the Oklahoma City University coach) said, ‘You got yourself into this, now get yourself out if it.’ There was no rhythm to the game. It was disjointed.”

Raveling said that although his team may not have looked ready to start the Pac-10 season with games against Washington State next Saturday at Pullman, Wash., and with Washington Dec. 23 at Seattle, he feels good about the Trojans. “You’ll see a decidedly different effort then,” he said. “Not many people believe we can sweep that series, but I do. Of course, we’ll have to play better than we did today.”

Dowell was asked to assess the team going into conference competition.

“I think the team is coming into its own now,” he said. “They know when to shoot and when they’re not supposed to, when to get an assist or a rebound. I’m saying that they know their roles much better now.”