USC Defeated by Stanford as Streak Hits Five Games : College basketball: Poppink scores 18 points and Cardinal makes 31 of 45 free throws in 76-67 victory.

USC suffered its fifth consecutive loss Saturday night, which meant only one thing to Coach George Raveling.

Better call a medic.

“If this was a first-aid course, they would say stop the bleeding, protect the wound and treat for shock,” said Raveling, whose Trojans dropped a 76-67 decision to Stanford.

“Certainly that would be a good recommendation for me as a coach--to stop the bleeding. Right now, it’s gushing out.”

This thing may need more than a Band-Aid. Also right now, the Trojans don’t seem to be all that much in the flow of things. Their five-game losing streak is their longest since the 1988-89 season, when they lost 13 in a row.

For what it’s worth, USC was 10-22 that season.

The Trojans are still 10-7 in spite of their skid, which is the good news for anyone looking for some. Count Raveling as someone who is doing just that.

“We’ll find a way out of this,” he said.

This would be encouraging because the path they followed against the Cardinal was certainly disastrous.

Lorenzo Orr, with 19 points, and Tremayne Anchrum, with 12, were the only players who scored in double figures for the Trojans, who nearly played themselves out of the game in the first half.

Despite having three starters in foul trouble, Stanford led, 38-26, at halftime, largely because of what USC contributed. The Trojans shot 33% and had 12 turnovers and only one assist in the first half.

Andy Poppink scored 18 points, 12 at the free-throw line, to lead Stanford. Freshman sensation Brevin Knight played only 18 minutes because of foul trouble.

Raveling threw everything at Stanford except his black silk shirt. He tried zone defenses, man-to-man, full-court pressure and half-court traps. The only thing he couldn’t figure out how to deal with was cutting off penetration by Stanford’s guards.

In all, the Cardinal shot 45 free throws, made 31 and withstood USC’s one and only run.

Jaha Wilson’s rebound basket and another by Anchrum got USC to within 59-53 with 6:30 to play. The Trojans never got any closer. David Harbour’s driving layup and an offensive rebound and basket by Darren Allaway got the lead back to 10 points and USC never got closer than eight again.

It was not an easy verdict to accept for Raveling, who kept the locker-room door closed for 19 minutes after the game. After a few minutes of silence, the speech he gave was long and spirited, even by Raveling standards.

“He said just play hard and keep your head up,” said Avondre Jones, who could use a little bit of the advice himself after a five-minute, five-foul, zero-point performance. “What he said, it was all positive.”

Next for the Trojans, 3-5 in Pacific 10 Conference play, is a game Thursday night against UCLA at Pauley Pavilion. Jones was asked how well losing five in succession serves as game preparation.

“Not too good,” he said.