Third Try a Charm for Beeuwsaert and Bears

Forward Matt Beeuwsaert cut through USC’s defense under the basket for a layup with the Bears clinging to a 1-point lead late in the second half of USC’s Pacific-10 Conference opener against California.

Beeuwsaert shot and missed, but he got the rebound.

Beeuwsaert shot and missed again, but he got the rebound again.

Beeuwsaert shot again, but this time he made it, and than sank the ensuing free throw after being fouled by USC’s Alan Pollard to give the Bears a 64-60 lead.

Beeuwsaert’s 3-point play was the turning point as Cal handed the Trojans a 73-66 loss Friday night before 3,105 fans at the Sports Arena.

“It seemed like there was a lid on the basket,” Beeuwsaert said. “But I kept after it.”

“That was the final nail in the coffin,” USC Coach George Raveling said of Beeuwsaert’s big basket. “Our guys were just getting caught out of position under the basket.”

Cal Coach Lou Campanelli has seen Beeuwsaert, a 6-foot, 6-inch, 210-pound senior power forward from Mater Dei High in Santa Ana, come through with a number of clutch baskets. Beeuwsaert had 9 of his 13 points in the second half.

“That’s typical of Matt, he gets a lot of effort baskets,” Campanelli said. “It was just a gritty effort by our team. Southern California made a good, hard run at us.”

The Trojans, who trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half, rallied to within a point with 4:45 left in the second half.

But USC couldn’t stand prosperity as the Trojans missed 7 straight shots before Ronnie Coleman got a concession basket with 1 second left. Coleman led USC with 18 points.

“I thought our man defense was very good,” Campanelli said. “We stopped them when it counted.”

The Bears (7-3), who were defeated by UCLA, 76-59, in their Pac-10 opener Wednesday night, looked vastly improved against the Trojans.

Leonard Taylor, Cal’s star center, scored a game-high 21 points, including 12 in the first half, as the Bears took a 41-36 lead.

Cal, which hit 18 straight free throws before finally missing, may have won the game at the line, hitting 22 of 25 foul shots.

After trailing by as many as 11 points in the first half, the Trojans cut the deficit to 2 points with 13:56 left.

USC tied it, 52-52, when guard Duane Cooper intercepted a pass and raced in for a layup with 12:24 remaining.

Cal got the lead back when Taylor hit a jumper and added a free throw to go ahead, 55-52.

Chris Moore sank two straight jumpers to give the Trojans a 57-56 lead, but the Trojans seemed to fall apart after he went to the bench with his fourth foul.

“I have mixed emotions about the game,” Raveling said after the Trojans dropped to 6-3. “We didn’t play bad. In fact, I thought we played good. Unfortunately we ran into a team that’s the best foul-shooting team in the conference.

“The two things that jump out at me was their foul shooting and their put backs. We did an inferior job of guarding their putbacks.”