It’s Career Day for Powell as USC Wins : Trojans: Senior makes a rare start and sparks 84-64 victory over Cal State Sacramento with 14 points and six assists.

Having a crowd of reporters gathered around his locker after USC’s 84-64 victory over Cal State Sacramento on Saturday was a new experience for Trojan point guard Damaine Powell.

After all, in his previous 29 games as a Trojan, Powell had scored 33 points, with a single-game high of six.

So it was understandable for Powell to soak in the attention after he made his first start of the season and scored 14 points with a career-high six assists before 1,749 at the Sports Arena.

“I really didn’t know that I was going to start until the end of (Friday’s) practice,” said Powell, a 6-foot-1 senior who started in place of sophomore Burt Harris. “I kind of got a little excited about it when I thought about going out there and hearing my name a few times.”

USC Coach George Raveling said that he decided to start Powell because Harris had missed practice time and was sluggish due to final exams. Raveling added, however, that Powell deserved the chance.

“Damaine has been playing well,” said Raveling, whose Trojans improved to 44-5 at the Sports Arena since March of 1990. “He’s the most improved player I’ve had since I’ve been here. I’m impressed with how much his confidence level has gone up. I’m thinking seriously of starting him Tuesday (against Howard), too.”

In a career-high 27 minutes, Powell helped lead the Trojans (5-1) to a fast start against the overmatched Hornets (1-6).

With Lorenzo Orr scoring eight points and freshman Claude Green making consecutive three-point shots, the Trojans raced to a 35-12 lead with six minutes remaining in the half.

“We came in trying to be the best we could be,” Sacramento Coach Don Newman said. “We knew USC was strong, one of the top teams in the Pac-10. They have phenomenal athletes and they’re just going to get better and better.”

After taking a 41-19 halftime lead, however, USC began to struggle and the game turned into a sloppy display of open-court play as the teams combined to shoot 40% from the field and commit 40 turnovers.

“It’s hard to play against somebody like that,” said USC senior Mark Boyd, who finished with eight points in 20 minutes after entering the game with a 14.8 average. “It’s hard to pick your intensity level up when they play so lax and kicked-back. What happens is that they bring your level of play down to their level.

“We started off well, but as the game went on, our intensity just sort of died out.”

USC, which stretched its winning streak to five games, took a 54-25 lead within the first four minutes of the second half before the Hornets rallied.

Behind Damond Edwards, who finished with 13 points, and LeRonne Armstrong, who scored nine second-half points, Sacramento outscored the Trojans, 15-2, to cut the lead to 56-40.

The Hornets never got any closer, however, thanks to Brandon Martin, who finished with a game-high 15 points, and freshmen Jaha Wilson, who had a career-high 12, and Green, who finished with 10.

“This was a difficult game for us to maintain a high level of intensity and concentration,” Raveling said. “In spots, we exhibited those characteristics, but never over time.

“I don’t think we played that horrible. But, we’re capable of playing better.”

For Powell, Sacramento provided an opportunity for him to show Raveling and his teammates that he will be ready when USC begins Pacific 10 Conference play next month.

“As long as I’m helping the team win, I’m happy,” said Powell, who started two games last season. “I’m not interested in starting.”