BOZEMAN TRIES TO DOWNPLAY SIGNIFICANCE OF CAL'S LOSS TO USC 2/27/94 Associated Press LOS ANGELES -- Southern Cal's 86-78 overtime victory over No. 17 California on Saturday probably cost the Golden Bears a chance at the Pac-10 championship. Coach Todd Bozeman, however, thinks it's not the end of the world. ''The loss won't kill our season because we're playing for a bigger picture, a bigger prize,'' Bozeman said, looking toward the NCAA tournament. ''We're just going to use it as a learning experience. The loss shouldn't ruin our season.'' Burt Harris hit a 3-pointer as regulation time expired to tie the game and the Trojans scored 10 straight points late in overtime to earn the victory. The Trojans, who had lost nine of their previous 11 games, trailed by as many as 15 points in the second half before coming back. The victory prevented Cal from keeping pace with No. 9 Arizona and No. 15 UCLA in the Pacific-10 Conference race. The Wildcats and Bruins both won Saturday, giving them 12-3 conference records. ''USC's players are good regardless of their record,'' Bozeman said. ''We made some mistakes, no question about it, the majority were mental. We just weren't prepared.'' Cal (19-6, 10-4 Pac-10) led 55-41 when Tremayne Anchrum made a three-point play with seven minutes left in the second half. The play triggered a 10-0 Southern Cal run in a span of 1:57 to draw the Trojans within four points. Cal's Jason Kidd made six free throws without a miss in the final 1:04 to keep the Golden Bears ahead. The last two came with 8.5 seconds remaining, giving Cal a 69-66 lead. Harris, who made a career-high six 3-point shots and scored a career-high 23 points, then dribbled the ball downcourt and unloaded from about 30 feet to tie the game at 69-69 and force the overtime. ''I saw the clock and I thought, 'Oh my God, I've got to get it off,''' Harris said. ''In a situation like that, you don't think about, you just shoot it, it's do or die.'' A 3-point shot by Anwar McQueen with 2:43 left in overtime put Cal ahead 75-74, but the Trojans scored the next 10 points to clinch the victory. Southern Cal (13-11, 6-9) went ahead for good on two free throws by freshman Stais Boseman, for a 76-75 lead with 2:29 remaining. A follow shot by Anchrum with 1:24 left and a jumper by Harris with 35.7 seconds to go made it 80-75. ''Burt stepped up and hit big shots,'' Southern Cal coach George Raveling said. ''A lot of that was due to (Mark) Boyd's great screens, like on the shot he hit at the end of regulation. We just improvised on that shot. ''Cal is an unusual team. They mesmerize you. There were times when I was a fan. I sat there and said, 'Wow.' ''Some of the plays Kidd made were abnormal. I've been in the conference 21 years and he's the best guard to play in it.'' Lamond Murray and Monty Buckley led Cal with 22 points each. Kidd had 15 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. Three Cal starters -- Murray, Michael Stewart and Ryan Jamison -- fouled out in the overtime period. ''In overtime, we went to work on each guy (in foul trouble), we went after Murray, after Stewart, after Jamison,'' Raveling said. ''We wanted to force them to guard our guy in a one-on-one situation. Boyd had 16 points, Boseman added 13 and Brandon Martin scored 12 for the Trojans.