Philadelphia ? Southern California put on a sizzling first-half shooting display, then nearly blew a 21-point lead before holding off Kentucky 80-76 on Thursday night in the NCAA tournament.
The sixth-seeded Trojans (24-9), seeking their first Final Four berth since 1954, advanced to Saturday’s East Regional championship game against the winner of the Duke-UCLA game.
David Bluthenthal, who scored 27 points, hit five foul shots in the final half-minute to keep the Trojans in front. Sam Clancy added 17 points, Jeff Trepagnier 14 and Brian Scalabrine 13.
Keith Bogans led Kentucky with 23 and freshman Jason Parker had 22. Tayshaun Prince was held to six points, the first time since the fourth game of the season he has scored less than 10.
USC used an early 24-6 run against the young, jittery Wildcats, with Scalabrine scoring nine points during the streak, to open the 21-point lead. Meanwhile, second-seeded Kentucky (24-10) was staggering, sinking in a sea of air balls, missed shots and turnovers.
With coach Tubby Smith stamping his foot on the sidelines, the Wildcats seemed lost, unable to make shots or hang on to the ball. Kentucky managed just four baskets in the first eight minutes and one of them by Marvin Stone barely beat the 35-second clock.
By halftime, USC’s lead was 43-24, the largest deficit Kentucky has faced at that juncture all season. The Wildcats were down 42-32 against Arkansas in the SEC tournament semifinals, a game they came back to win 87-78.
Kentucky, which averaged just 15 turnovers during the regular season, had 12 at halftime and shot just 36.7 percent from the field. Meanwhile, USC was shooting nearly 57 percent from the field to build the big lead.
When Scalabrine opened the second half with another basket, the lead was back to 21. But then Kentucky caught fire. Parker and Bogans led a 22-3 run that cut the lead to two points at 48-46.
With four personal fouls on point guard Brandon Granville, the Trojans faced their first crisis of the game. But they would not fold. Clancy and Trepagnier restored the lead to nine points.
Four straight 3-pointers, two each by Bogans and Saul Smith, put Kentucky within a point at 61-60 but Bluthenthal responded for USC with consecutive baskets, the second one a 3-pointer to put the lead back to seven.
By then, Granville was back in the game and when Smith, whose five 3-pointers were crucial for Kentucky, picked up his fourth personal the Wildcats trailed by seven points with 2:21 to play.
Parker missed a pair of free throws on an intentional foul but made up for it by tapping in a rebound after the Wildcats retained possession.
Clancy then made two free throws at the other end and after Parker made a pair, the lead was five points with a minute to play. Scalabrine missed a shot and Bogans went the length of the floor to make it 75-72.
After a turnover by Granville, Erik Daniels scored for Kentucky, making it a one-point game at 75-74 with 32 seconds to play.
Kentucky fouled Bluthenthal on the inbounds play and the 80-percent free-throw shooter made both shots for a three-point lead. Bogan was fouled at the other end and missed both his attempts and with 16.2 seconds left, USC had the ball and a three-point lead. Bluthenthal was fouled again and coolly sank two more free throws.
After Smith converted a pair for Kentucky, Bluthenthal hit another free throw to seal the victory.
In the West Regional, Maryland held off Georgetown to become the second team to advance.
See tomorrow’s Lawrence Journal-World and KUSports.com for full coverage of tonight’s NCAA Tournament games.
