COOL HAND CRAVEN USC GETS BOOST FROM FRESHMAN IN VICTORY USC 78, WASH. ST. 63.

Byline: Scott Wolf  Staff Writer

PULLMAN, Wash. - The year is ending, but USC freshman guard Errick Craven's new experiences only are beginning.

The 18-year-old has had an extremely educational December. He survived his initial final exams two weeks ago, saw snow for the first time in his life Friday and single-handedly took over a college basketball game Saturday.

Craven scored a career-high 29 points, made 13 of 19 shots, had six steals, six rebounds and committed just one turnover to lead USC to a 78-63 victory over Washington State in front of 2,219 at Friel Court.

Deep down, the soft-spoken Craven thought he could dominate a college game. He just never believed it would occur less than halfway through his freshman year.

``I didn't think it was going to happen now,'' Craven said. ``I thought it would happen down the road.''

In what already is becoming a trademark for the 6-foot-1 shooting guard, Craven did everything without forcing anything. He didn't take any bad shots - most of his points coming within the structure of USC's offense - and when the Trojans' offense began to stagnate, he simply drove through the defense for a layup.

``I think he had the quietest 29 points I've ever seen because I didn't even know,'' USC forward Sam Clancy said. ``I'd put him up against any freshman in the country.''

Craven's second half was particularly impressive, especially with Clancy (18 points) limited to three field-goal attempts and two points in the final 20 minutes. The freshman made up for Clancy's absence with 20 points, making 9 of 11 shots and adding five rebounds and three steals.

``He dominated the game,'' USC coach Henry Bibby said. ``I haven't seen a player dominate a game like that in a while. We think he's a special player and know he can do that.

``We've seen that a lot of times in practice but not over a long period of time like tonight. He didn't let up.''

If nothing else, Craven demonstrated the Trojans might have another impact player who can supplement Clancy, or take the pressure off the Wooden Award candidate when teams double-team him.

``I can't score all the points,'' Clancy said. ``We need other scorers and Errick stepped up his play.''

Craven, who tries to be modest whenever discussing himself, didn't offer many adjectives describing his performance.

``I was just going with the flow of the offense and shots were going in,'' he said. ``There were times I went out of the offense but in general it was coming to me. The six steals, I take pride in, but the 29 points didn't hurt either.''

The stat sheet didn't record the times Craven tipped a ball toward a teammate or dove to keep a ball alive.

``He's been thinking too much but tonight he was just playing,'' Bibby said. ``He's another go-to weapon.''

And to top it off, this was the first road trip on which Craven was accompanied by his twin brother, Derrick, who has been out all season with a stress fracture in his leg. The Craven twins and forward Jerry Dupree engaged in a snowball fight outside the team hotel, the twins' first chance to see snow since their winter months usually have been spent in gyms.

But the snow fights weren't the weekend highlight for the Trojans (10-2, 2-0), who moved into a three-way tie for first place in the Pacific-10 Conference with UCLA and Oregon, although California and Stanford have yet to play a game.

``UCLA came up here and put two wins away, so it put pressure on us to stay with the leader,'' point guard Brandon Granville said.

About the only aspect of the game about which Bibby complained was Granville, who scored four points and missed 9 of 10 shots two nights after scoring a career-high 27 against Washington.

``How can you go 9 for 15 (on field goals) and 4 for 6 on 3-pointers and not make a bucket?'' Bibby said. ``It's not a good time to have those games, not in your senior year.''

Granville shrugged off the criticism.

``When I struggle and we pull out a big win, that's good for the future,'' he said.

The Trojans put away Washington State by shooting 54.8 percent, which offset the fact they shot only six free throws. Craven and Clancy scored 21 of the first 25 points as USC built a 25-15 lead.

The Cougars (4-6, 0-2) gamely stayed within 10 points through the first 30 minutes despite missing starting forward Mike Bush, who is playing wide receiver for the Cougars' football team in Monday's Sun Bowl.

WSU was within 11 points when Craven drove for a basket, then rebounded a Clancy jump shot and put the ball in to give USC a 66-51 lead with 9:43 remaining.

``We have so many guys I don't need to be a dominant player,'' Craven said. ``I still make freshman mistakes. As a whole, though, I'm feeling more comfortable.''