Miner Overcomes Cold Shooting, Helps USC Win

Harold Miner scored 20 points and Robert Pack added 17 as USC defeated California, 85-76, Sunday in a Pacific 10 game.

The Trojans are 14-8 overall and 5-7 in the Pac-10. Cal is 11-12 and 7-7.

This was the first time in the last seven meetings of the teams that USC has beaten Cal.

Billy Dreher paced Cal with 24 points and Brian Hendrick had 18 points and seven rebounds.

The Bears trailed by six at halftime and by as many as 11 in the second half until a 15-4 run tied the score, at 57-57, with 11:25 to play.

USC’s Duane Cooper, who scored 15 points, made consecutive three-pointers to give the Trojans a 63-57 USC lead, and the Trojans built the margin to eight before Cal made another run. Roy Fisher’s two free throws with 1:40 left cut USC’s lead to 78-76, but Miner and Pack each hit baskets down the stretch to keep the Bears at bay.

Miner connected on only seven of 21 field-goal attempts and at one point missed four in a row. But that didn’t bother Coach George Raveling.

“I told Harold, ‘Look, son, if we’re going to win this game, you’re going to have to do it,’ ” Raveling said. “I told him that if anyone says anything to you, just tell them I told you to shoot.”

Raveling gave similar advice to Cooper.

“Coach got on me a little bit for passing up open shots in some other games,” said Cooper, who was five of six on three-pointers. “He just said to take the shot when it was there.”

Dreher also had a good game from the perimeter, making six of 11 three-pointers. But Dreher’s teammates seemed flat three days after Cal had beaten 15th-ranked UCLA.

Cal Coach Lou Campanelli, however, said he didn’t think Sunday’s performance had anything to do with the effort put out against UCLA.

“Rather than say we had a letdown, you’d have to say that USC is a pretty good team,” Campanelli said. “They shot the ball well and played hard. They did what they had to do to win.”