SEATTLE — Dwight Lewis carried Southern California in the first half. Mike Gerrity came up with the big shots in the closing moments to hold off a furious Washington rally.
Don’t look now, but a USC team with no postseason in its future — not even the Pac-10 tournament — is contending to do the next-best thing: win the regular-season conference title.
Lewis scored 16 of his 22 in the first half, Gerrity scored six key points in the closing moments and USC moved within a half-game of first place in the Pac-10 with a 67-64 victory over Washington on Thursday night.
The Trojans’ biggest road victory of the season, coupled with California’s stunning loss at Oregon State, leave USC (16-9, 8-5) and Arizona State nipping at Cal with two weeks left in the conference season.
“We’ve been faced with a lot throughout the year — injuries, guys not being eligible, the sanctions — so through each one of those things the team has come together, and it’s a tight-knit group,” said Gerrity, who finished with 12 points, all in the second half. “We come together when we face adversity.”
Against Washington, the Trojans’ adversity was letting a 16-point lead with 9:05 to go evaporate in a hurry. What appeared to be an impressive and comfortable victory suddenly became unsettling as the Huskies rallied.
But Gerrity came through. The crafty guard scored on a layup with 1:02 left to push the Trojans’ lead back to three, then clinched the victory with a fallaway 12-footer with 18 seconds left.
It just so happened the win came on the day USC officials were meeting with the NCAA infractions committee in Arizona. The school has already banned itself from postseason play as part of self-imposed sanctions for rules violations.
“It’s important that we’re still in the race after 13 games,” USC coach Kevin O’Neill said. “Nobody thought this team could do that.”
The loss is a damaging blow for Washington and its NCAA tournament aspirations, and it likely ended any hopes of repeating as Pac-10 regular-season champ.
Multiple times this season, Washington coach Lorenzo Romar has called USC the Huskies most difficult matchup. It was evident last month in Los Angeles, when the Trojans handed Washington its most lopsided loss of the season, an 87-61 throttling.
Many thought it was simply an emotional letdown by Washington two days after the Huskies were stunned at the buzzer against UCLA. The Huskies said the embarrassment against USC would keep them from looking ahead to the national exposure they are set to receive Saturday when UCLA comes to town.
But a 16-point hole was too much for Washington. Quincy Pondexter led the Huskies (17-9, 7-7) with 18 points.
“It’s tough,” Pondexter said. “We’re coming down to the end of the season, when we really need wins. It hurts right now.”
The Huskies had no answers for Lewis much of the night. The Trojans spread the floor on offense, chewing up the shot clock and limiting the number of possessions. When a big shot was needed, Lewis stepped up, hitting 9 of 16 shots. His jumper with 9:05 left, as the shot clock expired, gave USC a 54-38 lead.
That seemed to be enough of a cushion until Washington came alive.
The run started with Matthew Bryan-Amaning — who finished with 14 points — and was buoyed by consecutive 3-pointers from Elston Turner and Pondexter to get the Huskies back within 56-51 with 5:09 left.
Nikola Vucevic quieted and stunned everyone with a 3-pointer after a USC timeout to push the lead back to eight, but Justin Holiday hit two free throws, then jumped in front of a pass for Lewis and sprinted to a layup. Bryan-Amaning added one free throw with 3:26 left, and the lead was 59-56.
Gerrity added two free throws, but so did Pondexter. Gerrity then air-balled a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired, but Venoy Overton’s driving layup bounced off the back rim and into Vucevic’s hands.
Overton made amends moments later with a layup to cut the lead to one with 1:27 left, but Gerrity did the same to push the lead back to three. After an Overton free throw, Gerrity hit his fallaway in the lane to seal the victory.
“A lot of things were stacked up against us going down the stretch — momentum, foul trouble especially,” O’Neill said. “But our guys fought bravely like they have all year.”
Vucevic added 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Trojans, who used a 25-12 spurt during the final 13 minutes of the first half to take control.
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