STEWART DOESN'T PASS ON HIS OPPORTUNITY LAST-SECOND 3-POINTER GIVES TROJANS VICTORY USC 66, ASU 65.

Byline: Matthew Kredell Staff Writer

TEMPE, Ariz. - For an entire half, USC's best shooter played offense like the ball was a hot potato that he wanted to get out of his hands as quickly as possible.

So it was only fitting that, with seconds left, the ball would come his way again. This time he wouldn't have a choice; he had to shoot it.

Lodrick Stewart sank his first shot of the second half, a 3-pointer, with 2.1 seconds remaining to give USC an improbable 66-65 victory Thursday at Arizona State in its first Pacific-10 Conference road game of the season.

It was the only basket of the game for Stewart, who got into an early funk with four first-half misses and decided to avoid shooting after slightly spraining his right ankle.

``My ankle was causing a lot of pressure in my leg,'' Stewart said. ``I didn't feel like I had the lift. I didn't want to shoot it and miss, especially in crunch time.''

USC, which was behind most of the game, trailed by six points with exactly two minutes remaining to a team that was picked to finish last in the conference in the preseason media poll.

The Trojans (11-3, 2-1) pulled out the game with three difficult 3-point shots. First, Gabe Pruitt launched one from four feet behind the arc to reach the 30-point mark for the game.

USC got the ball back after a good defensive series forced a miss as the shot clock expired. After a timeout, Nick Young drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key to tie the score 63-63.

It looked like Stewart, who was scoreless despite entering the game averaging 13.5 points, would be the goat after he committed a foul trying to go for the block of a jump shot with 27.4 seconds left. Bryson Krueger stepped to the line and drained both free throws to give the Sun Devils (6-6, 0-3) a two-point lead.

The Trojans got the ball in the hands of the red-hot Pruitt, who had made five 3-pointers in the game, but this time he missed. Ryan Francis, the smallest player on the court, who is generously listed at 5-foot-11, sneaked in to get the rebound and kicked the ball out to Stewart standing behind the 3-point line.

Without hesitation, Stewart drilled the shot. The Sun Devils missed a halfcourt shot at the buzzer.

``When I tried for the block at the end and got the foul, I thought, 'Oh man, I'm going to lose the game like that,' '' Stewart said. ``I kept my head up and then they gave me the opportunity to redeem myself and get the last shot.''

Stewart is USC's best 3-point shooter on the season, having entered Thursday's game making 42 percent from behind the arc.

He wouldn't have gotten the chance without the hustle of Francis.

``We're a team that sends our guards back on defense, but he went back to the glass,'' Floyd said of Francis. ``He's smart. He understands the situation. And that's where the best looks often come, off offensive boards.''

Francis tied for the team lead with six rebounds in the game.

USC trailed by as many as nine points early in the second half.

Matthew Kredell, [phone]

matthew.kredell(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

USC's Abdoulaye N'diaye goes up for a shot against Arizona State's Jeff Pendergraph in the first half of Thursday's game.

Mary Schwalm/Associated Press