It’s Same Old Song but Different Beat for USC : College basketball: Trojans’ skid hits 14, but mercifully, season ends with 83-81 overtime loss to Oregon State.

Interim Coach Charlie Parker said what was on the minds of most who have followed the USC basketball team this season:

“The great news is it’s over--the season, the game, everything. It’s the best news we’ve had.”

Everything ended for the Trojans, 7-21 overall and 2-16 in the Pacific 10, except their losing streak in an 83-81 overtime defeat by Oregon State before 2,132 Saturday at the Sports Arena.

The streak is 14 and will be Parker’s problem or inherited by whoever runs the program next season.

“I think the (decision) will be soon if they want to salvage recruiting,” Parker said of USC’s coaching search.

Parker still has no idea whether it was his last game, but Oregon State’s Jim Anderson knew it was his.

It marked the end of Anderson’s 34-year career at Oregon State, six as head coach. He finished with a 79-90 record. The Beavers were 9-18, 6-12 this season.

Anderson, 57, sympathized with Parker, who took over the team two days before the season after former coach George Raveling resigned. Raveling was seriously injured in a car accident last fall.

“I feel bad for Charlie,” said Anderson, who has suffered through some rough seasons in Corvallis. “He inherited a bad situation. He couldn’t win enough (with the talent) to get the (athletic director) to stick in his corner.”

Anderson’s advice: Be satisfied with a job well done.

“His players played hard for him right to the end,” he said.

But it was the ending, yet again, that proved to be the Trojans’ downfall. With 2.4 seconds left in overtime, USC’s Claude Green was fouled by Vladimir Heredia while shooting from three-point range. Green was awarded three free throws.

USC was trailing, 83-80. His first shot hit the edge of the rim. He made the second and after an Oregon State timeout, Green purposely missed the third. The Trojans recovered the ball with 1.2 seconds left.

The ball was inbounded to forward Lorenzo Orr, playing his final game for USC, and his wild shot from the corner was not close.

USC also had a chance to win in regulation, with possession for the final shot and the score 72-72. With 11.4 seconds left, Parker called time out to set up a play for Orr. But after getting the ball, Orr never shot.

“I have no idea why he didn’t at least take the shot,” Parker said.

It might have been better to rely on sophomore Jaha Wilson, who had one of his best games at USC, scoring 21 points and getting 14 rebounds.

Instead, the Trojans were left with another disappointment. Play was much more ragged than in Thursday night’s close loss to Oregon.

“It’s the same story all season,” Parker said. “We’re there, then we’re not there.”

The same could be said about the Beavers, who defeated Stanford and California last week. Brent Barry led the team with 19 points, and Mustapha Hoff had 17 points and 11 rebounds.

But Anderson’s finale was hardly satisfying, he said, because of the chaotic performance.

“It was a comedy of agony,” he said of the Beavers. “But (USC) was part of the comedy too.”

Yet, no one was laughing when it thankfully, fitfully came to a close.