USC Topples No. 2 Kentucky
P H I L A D E L P H I A, March 23 -- Not bad for a football school.
Southern California, a longtime powerhouse in passes and puntsbut not dribbles and dunks, ended Kentucky's Final Four plans inthe NCAA tournament. For their trouble, the Trojans next get Duke,another basketball powerhouse.
No problem.
Sixth-seeded USC feels like it's in the zone now after blowingall but one point of a 21-point lead Thursday night, but stillsurviving by defeating Kentucky 80-76. That put the Trojans inSaturday night's East Regional championship game against Duke,which defeated UCLA 76-63.
USC (24-9) will be bidding for its first Final Four berth since1954.
Wildcats Pull Within One Point
Coach Henry Bibby marvels at the resolve of his team, which beatOklahoma State and Boston College before dispensing withsecond-seeded Kentucky (24-10).
"The last three games, I've been speechless," Bibby said. "Ilike being speechless in these situations."
He could have been gulping in the second half as USC's leadmelted away against a relentless Kentucky comeback fueled by KeithBogans and Jason Parker. The Wildcats twice got within a point, thelast time with 32 seconds left.
But then David Bluthenthal, who led all scorers with 27 points,dropped in five straight free throws as USC protected the lead.
It was no accident that Bluthenthal was at the foul line. He'san 80 percent free-throw shooter, and the Trojans made sure thatevery inbounds pass in the last half-minute was in his hands.
For his part, Bluthenthal was happy to carry the burden at theend. "I knew if I was going to the line, I was going to make thoseshots," he said. "It wasn't really hard to knock those freethrows down."
Too Far Down
Meanwhile, Bogans and Parker missed two free throws apiece downthe stretch. But without those two, the Wildcats wouldn't have hada shot at overtaking USC.
Bogans scored 21 of his 23 points in the second half, and Parkerfinished with a career-high. 22.
Besides Bluthenthal, USC had three others in double figures withSam Clancy scoring 17, Jeff Trepagnier 14 and Brian Scalabrine 13.Brandon Granville finished with eight assists, going over 200 forthe second straight season.
