By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Ben McCollum’s choice for the final shot, the last chance to salvage what would have been a devastating collapse, was of course going to be Bennett Stirtz.

USC made that choice before the Iowa coach could even call a timeout.

Stirtz was inexplicably fouled with four seconds remaining, and he hit two free throws to give the Hawkeyes a 73-72 win on Wednesday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

What looked to be a stunning comeback for the Trojans (15-6 overall, 4-6 Big Ten) after being down 17 points with 10:41 to play turned into an escape for Iowa (15-5, 5-4).

“It feels, obviously, pretty good,” said Stirtz, who along with teammate Tavion Banks scored 20 points. “But bad at the same time, because we stress the fans out, stress the coaching staff out, and myself and teammates. Blew a lead that we shouldn’t have, and we’ve got to get better.”

USC had taken a 72-71 lead on Jacob Cofie’s putback with eight seconds left. Stirtz brought the ball up the sideline toward the Iowa bench, where he was surrounded by a double-team. McCollum, who had whirled about the sideline all night to provide some energy for his slow-starting team, was going to let the final seconds play out. It was going to be McCollum’s call to let Stirtz take the last shot, but when he saw his senior guard trapped in front of him, he started to call a timeout to save him.

That was when USC’s Jerry Easter II fouled Stirtz, leading to a stunned eruption not only from the crowd of 10,512, but also from Trojans coach Eric Musselman, who stomped in disbelief at the play.

“Did they think that they were down because it was pretty intentional, it seemed like, did it not?” McCollum said. “I have no idea what happened. Just probably a mistake, because it was just like … (Easter) just he grabbed (Stirtz), and it was like, whoa. So it was good. Heck of a deal. I was about to call timeout too. Good thing I didn’t.”

Stirtz said he was “pretty surprised” at the foul.

“I thought they were just coming to double-team me and I was going to pass to (Alvaro Folgueiras) and got the foul call,” Stirtz said. “Wasn’t trying to do that at all. So, got lucky.”

Folgueiras, who had made some big second-half shots, wanted another opportunity.

“I passed him the ball, and I’m running crazy behind him,” Folgueiras said. “And I was yelling at him. I was calling him to give me the ball. I just wanted to score the last one. He actually was gonna give it to me with four seconds left, and I was gonna attack (the basket), because they were gonna trap him. And they fouled him.”

Stirtz made both free throws for the lead. USC had one final shot, but the 3-point shot from Kam Woods, who had dominated the Hawkeyes in the second half, missed.

Iowa seemed in control of the game up 66-51 with 5:25 left, then for some reason couldn’t stop Woods.

Woods scored 19 consecutive points as the Trojans began carving at the lead while the Hawkeyes became stagnant on offense.

“I feel like, with six minutes left, we started going (isolation) game, and I think that’s a little too early,” Stirtz said.

“I thought they kind of punished our game plan down the stretch there, where we were putting coverage on certain people,” McCollum said. “We weren’t as (much) in coverage on Woods, and he was able to get to his spots and be able to finish. Obviously, kind of got him going — he hit a few threes and became an issue for us.”

Woods, like Folgueiras a transfer from Robert Morris in the offseason, had scored just 25 points in eight games this season — “He wasn’t a real huge part of our game plan,” McCollum said — but he finished with 33 points, 27 coming in the second half.

“I never saw him like that,” Folgueiras said.

“We just tried to put different guys on him,” Stirtz said, “and it didn’t work.”

Iowa had just one field goal in that final 5:25, a 3-pointer from Folgueiras with 2:38 to play that gave the Hawkeyes a 69-63 lead.

“This guy called Bennett, he told me not to shoot the ball,” Folgueiras said, smiling, about the advice Stirtz had given him right before the shot. “Most of the time he’s right, but this time it went in, so nobody can say anything about it.”

Stirtz said he expected Folgueiras, who scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half, to remind him of the advice later.

“He will in the locker room right after this,” Stirtz said. “But I told him to drive. It was there, but he shot it, and I was wrong.”

Iowa had an awful start to the game — the Hawkeyes missed their first nine shots and committed five turnovers to fall behind 14-3, but were able to grab a late first-half lead before trailing 28-27 at halftime.

The poor start forced McCollum to provide his own energy, something he said he remembered from his days coaching at the NCAA Division II level at Northwest Missouri State.

“I’m just kind of lit the whole time,” McCollum said. “That’s just how I coach. It wears me out, though I get so tired. You don’t have big crowds at D-II — you get enough, we sell it out and stuff like that, but it’s 2,500 (fans). You’d supply your own energy — you’re just kind of fighting everybody in the gym and taking your guys with you. And so, be the change you want to see in others. If you want your guys to fight, you’ve got to fight. It wasn’t directed at officials or anything like that. It’s just, hey, sometimes I’ve got to hype my guys up, and sometimes I’ve got to take the kid gloves off and get after them. And you know, I thought that’s what they needed tonight.”

It worked for a win.

“You know,” McCollum said, “we’ll take it.”

Photo: Iowa’s Alvaro Folgueiras (right) celebrates with teammate Cooper Koch after hitting a 3-pointer in Wednesday’s win over USC. (Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire)