Miner Has Major Role Again; USC Routs Harvard

After losing 78 of 116 games during his first four seasons at USC, you would think Trojan basketball Coach George Raveling would be overjoyed at the prospect of a 27-point victory.

Not really.

Raveling was angry after watching the Trojans rout Harvard, 103-76, Friday night before 1,351 at the Long Beach Arena.

“Tonight we lost the contest because we didn’t play to the level of our ability,” Raveling said. “The scoreboard said we won, but our play didn’t say the same thing.

“The question we had coming into the game was ‘Could we play at a level that we played against Colorado State and Notre Dame?’ The answer was a resounding ‘No.’

“We never really were a cohesive unit tonight. We won because we had the better players.”

The Trojans won because they had Harold Miner, Robert Pack and Duane Cooper in the backcourt.

Miner scored 31 points in 27 minutes as USC (7-1) extended its winning streak to six.

Miner, who hit 11 of 19 shots, scored more than 30 points for the third time in eight games this season. The Trojans topped 100 points for the third time this season.

Miner pumped life into an otherwise dull game with a flying, double-pump, reverse dunk with 5 1/2 minutes left. He had missed a routine one-handed dunk a minute earlier.

“I took off too far from the basket,” Miner said. “I didn’t realize where I was on the floor.”

The Trojans, unbeaten since going to a three-guard offense, continued to flourish as Pack scored 11 points and matched his career high with 10 assists. Cooper had a season-high 12 points and four assists.

“I love their guards,” Harvard Coach Peter Roby said. “And I’m not talking about Harold Miner because everybody talks about him and everybody knows how good he is.

“But if he doesn’t have those two other guys out there running the show, then he’s going to be a guy who scores a lot of points on a team that doesn’t win games. Pack and Cooper are terrific because those guys have no ego. All they want to do is win.”

Forward Ronnie Coleman added 18 points for the Trojans and Rodney Chatman had 10 points in a reserve role.

Center Ron Mitchell led Harvard with 18 points, forward Tyler Rullman had 15 points and forward Ralph James added 13 points as the Crimson (2-8) lost its third consecutive game.

Leading by 21 points, USC seemed to lose interest. Harvard outscored the Trojans, 11-6, at the start of the second half to move within 14 points.

But Miner took control of the game, scoring eight points in a row. After making two free throws, Miner hit two three-point shots from the right side.