Trojans Pale in Presence of ‘Monsters’

There was something inevitable about Stanford’s victory over USC on Thursday night.

Something brutal about Cardinal forward Mark Madsen fighting for rebounds. Something graceful about guard Arthur Lee finishing the fastbreak with a layup.

And something special about a No. 4 Stanford team that proved once again it is the class of the Pacific 10 Conference with a 72-55 victory before an unusually large crowd of 5,627 at the Sports Arena.

“Monsters,” USC forward Sam Clancy called them. “They beat us in every aspect of the game.”

The Trojans succumbed to an avalanche of Stanford rebounds and free throws. They were sunk when their leading scorer, center Brian Scalabrine, got in foul trouble in the first half and fouled out with 11:06 remaining.

Scalabrine slumped in the locker room afterward, angry that the physical Madsen was called for only two fouls and frustrated by his team’s effort.

“The heart that people bring every night needs to be addressed,” he said, after finishing with a below-average eight points and two rebounds. “Players on our team need to know what it takes to win.”

This game marked the start of a crucial seven days for USC, which fell to 10-4, 2-3 in conference play. On the heels of an upsetting loss at Oregon State and now this one to Stanford, the Trojans must play California and UCLA in rapid succession. Two more losses would put them in a hole.

Stanford (14-2, 4-0) was not the best opponent with which to begin this midseason stretch. The Cardinal has earned its ranking with size, discipline and veteran smarts.

The Trojans’ best shot, at first, was to play tough man-to-man defense and leave the scoring to Scalabrine, who made two short hooks and a follow shot that staked USC to an 8-2 lead.

But soon after, Scalabrine--who wrestled with Madsen early--picked up his third foul.

“It seems like he was playing me the same way I was playing him,” Scalabrine said. “How many [fouls] did he have?”

Stanford, which did not have a strong night offensively, stayed patient on defense and controlled the boards. The Cardinal finally awoke from its lethargic start when Jarron Collins, a North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake High alumnus, came off the bench to score six quick points.

“[The Trojans] were getting loose balls, making plays and we weren’t doing that,” Madsen said. “Then Jarron came in, made five or six plays and gave us all the momentum.”

USC guard Adam Spanich answered with a pair of jumpers, but USC trailed, 34-24, at halftime and was on the way to its lowest-scoring game of the season.

“We couldn’t come back,” forward Jeff Trepagnier said. “We missed too many shots.”

Roughly a third of the way into the Pac-10 schedule, USC still is trying to find its scoring punch. Scalabrine provides 15 points a night--when he doesn’t commit fouls--but Spanich and backcourt mate Elias Ayuso have been streaky and Trepagnier sometimes stalls in the half-court game.

That can leave USC Coach Henry Bibby sorting through the rotation, looking for help.

Against Stanford, the best he could come up with was Ayuso, the only Trojan to score in double figures with 15 points. That wasn’t nearly enough to challenge a Cardinal team that won the rebounding battle 47-33, made 74% of its free throws and held USC to 30% shooting.

“We missed some easy layups,” Bibby said. “We got the ball inside and couldn’t finish. We missed open jump shots.”

The Cardinal, meanwhile, rolled along with the same starting five it has used over the last season and a half. Madsen had 17 points and 10 rebounds. Lee, the former North Hollywood High star, had 14 points. Collins celebrated his homecoming with 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

All of USC’s complaints about officiating and effort notwithstanding, Bibby put things in perspective.

“They’re a very good basketball team,” he said. “We weren’t as sharp as we needed to be to beat the No. 4 team in the country.”