USC NOTEBOOK: YOUNG ALMOST THE HERO.

Byline: MATTHEW KREDELL Staff Writer

With a minute and a half to go, Nick Young was grabbing his head in frustration. A minute later, he was sprawled on the floor in glee.

Another few seconds and he was walking off the court in disbelief.

Young hit what could have gone down as the biggest shot of the USC season when he drained a 3-pointer from the right corner while being fouled and completed the four-point play to give the Trojans the lead over archrival UCLA with 22.9 seconds remaining.

Instead, the play will be a bittersweet memory as Aaron Afflalo thwarted USC's upset bid Saturday by making a 14-foot jumper over Lodrick Stewart's outstretched hand with just over fourseconds left to give the No.4 Bruins a 65-64 victory.

``I kind of thought we had the game, but he hit that shot,'' Young said. ``I felt like Adam Morrision in the (NCAA Tournament last year). I just wanted to stand there and cry.''

The Trojans were left wondering how they let the game come down to the final seconds.

USC led by 10 points with 15:42 to play and went up 55-49 on a dunk by Taj Gibson with 8:20 left.

Then the Trojans (13-5, 3-2) went nearly five minutes without scoring, a drought similar to the one in the second half of their other Pac-10 loss, to Washington State.

``They were doing the same thing (defensively) that they did in the firsthalf,'' Stewart said. ``We just kind of lost focus for five or six minutes on both offense and defense.''

USC missed the front end of 1-and-1 free-throw opportunities threetimes down the stretch, including the shot that had Young grabbing his head with 1:27 left. Daniel Hackett, who was shooting 89 percent from the line, had two misses. The Trojans shot 7-of -14 from the stripe overall.

``Our inability to make some freethrows was a real difference in this game,'' coach Tim Floyd said.

Just like in the Washington State loss, the Trojans couldn't get a legitimate shot up in the final seconds. Against the Cougars, Young got an offensive foul taking the ball up court.

This time, the Trojans used 6-foot-5 Dwight Lewis to take the ball out of bounds with 4.7 seconds left rather than a taller forward, and his pass was tipped by 6-9 UCLA forward Lorenzo Mata.

Floyd wanted Gabe Pruitt to catch the ball on the run and cut around a screen from Taj Gibson.

Instead, Pruitt had to go back under the opposing basket to grab the ball and didn't get near halfcourt before having to throw up a desperation shot.

USC isn't about to consider it a moral victory that they stayed so close for so long to what was the No. 1 team in the country a week ago.

``I don't think losses validate,'' Floyd said. ``We came in here trying to win this game, expecting to win.''

Nearly full: Though the atmosphere at Galen Center was better than ever, the 9,682 in attendance fell short of 10,258 capacity because more than 500 students who had won seats through a lottery failed to show.

New number: Former Trojans great Bill Sharman became the first men's basketball player at the school to have his number retired in a halftime ceremony.

Unfortunately for Hackett, Sharman wore his No. 11.

Hackett switched to No. 25, saying it was in honor of his friend Sead Odzic, who wore the number for USC before transferring to Illinois State earlier in the season.

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USC's Nick Young, center, is congratulated by teammates after hitting a late 3-pointer.

Michael Owen Baker/Associated Press