USC acts like the bad seed in loss to Huskies

Lodrick Stewart sat on the bench long after both teams had vacated the court Thursday night at Bank of America Arena, surrounded by friends and family who had come to see the USC senior guard play in his hometown for the last time in his college career.

His eyes downcast, his 2-year-old son, Jaylin, bobbing gingerly on his knee, Stewart couldn’t have seemed more alone.

Stewart and the No. 23 Trojans had clawed back from a 17-point deficit against Washington in the second half to come within five with about 7 1/2 minutes to play, only to unravel moments later with a flurry of four turnovers in five possessions during an 85-70 loss to the Huskies.

Stewart committed two of the turnovers, on a lazy lob pass for junior guard Gabe Pruitt that was intercepted in the paint and a dribble that Stewart lost while driving into the lane.

“It’s frustrating how this game ended,” Stewart said. “We could have got this win.”

Instead, the Trojans (21-9 overall, 11-6 Pacific 10 Conference) became just another victim on Washington’s home court, where the Huskies (17-12, 7-10) have gone 16-2 this season.

USC could still finish in a tie with Washington State for second in the Pac-10 should it defeat the Cougars on Saturday in Pullman. With a victory, the Trojans would own the tiebreaker and claim the No. 2 seeding in next week’s conference tournament.

But a loss to Washington, which is entrenched in seventh place in the Pac-10 and likely bound for the National Invitation Tournament, could prove damaging to USC’s seeding in the NCAA tournament unless the Trojans can finish the regular season and Pac-10 tournament on a more promising note.

“We never know how the seeding might go,” said USC junior swingman Nick Young, who scored a game-high 26 points on 11-for-15 shooting. “Now we might be shipped off to the East Coast and have to play against Florida or somebody like that.”

Trojans Coach Tim Floyd appeared ready to send a couple of his players packing for Siberia during a stretch in which USC played shaky perimeter defense and allowed the Huskies to make nine of 13 three-point attempts in the first half.

After Washington guard Ryan Appleby made his third three-point basket of the half, Floyd called a timeout to admonish Stewart and freshman guard Daniel Hackett for their failure to at least get a hand in the face of the Huskies shooters.

“We just didn’t have that fire,” said Pruitt, who had 13 points. “We kind of played lazy off screens and let them be the aggressor.”

Floyd picked up a technical foul shortly before halftime after arguing with officials -- apparently over a Washington three-pointer that counted despite a simultaneous foul called on the Huskies -- prompting students to shout, “Mind your manners!”

Appleby finished with 22 points and sophomore forward Jon Brockman had 17 for the Huskies, who built a 17-point cushion early in the second half before their offense stagnated to the point that Coach Lorenzo Romar called for a timeout in the middle of a possession.

Young led USC’s charge with a series of baseline drives, pull-up jumpers and long fade-aways, drawing the Trojans to within 67-62 with 7:23 remaining on a two-footer from the left baseline.

The deficit was still only six when the parade of turnovers began. Besides Stewart’s blunders, there was an errant pass from senior center Abdoulaye N’diaye that freshman forward Taj Gibson couldn’t save, and a traveling violation on Gibson.

The Trojans didn’t help matters by making only one of 11 three-point attempts in the second half, though they shot 50.9% overall for the game.

Thirty minutes after the game, as Stewart walked dejectedly off the court, Romar came over and placed a reassuring hand on his back. Stewart looked like he could use the encouragement.

“It’s sad that it came to an end,” Stewart said of playing in Seattle, “but I have to keep going.”

ben.bolch@latimes.com