Busterna Busts Out of Doldrums

No longer a novelty, Gennaro Busterna is a legitimate scoring threat for USC.

And while the Trojans’ forgotten fourth senior has played his way onto Coach Henry Bibby’s radar screen and is angling to possibly start tonight against Arizona State, Busterna’s entrance in games is no longer fodder for jokes. Not after knocking down three three-point shots and getting two steals en route to a career-high 12 points in the Trojans’ 67-65 last-second loss at UCLA.

“I think I’ve finally shown I can play basketball, at least earn a couple more minutes,” said Busterna, who played a career-high 21 minutes against the Bruins. “I surprised myself as well as others against UCLA in that I can still play basketball and make shots.”

Busterna, a junior college transfer from McCook College in Nebraska--where he averaged 20.8 points as a sophomore--had not scored at USC until getting 10 points in garbage time of the Trojans’ 97-80 loss at Arizona last month. He had not scored again until lighting up the unsuspecting Bruins.

“This is something that we needed,” Bibby said. “I’m very disappointed in him because he hasn’t given us this up to this time. He’s a big threat for us because he can make shots for us in numbers and that’s something that we really don’t have.

“It opens up the floor for us a lot.”

Busterna, who is averaging 1.8 points in 3.8 minutes, said his recent success has made him want to scrimmage harder in hopes of earning more playing time.

“That [UCLA] game is a confidence builder,” he said. “I’ve been getting in with the first team in practice more so hopefully, if it happens again, it won’t be a surprise.”

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USC is only 3-4 in its last seven games, but Bibby is staying positive.

“There’s no reason to panic; there’s never a reason to panic,” he said. “The kids are going to go out and play the best basketball they can play and the pieces will fall where they may. I have some good kids in the program who play hard for me. The kids don’t give up. It’s a good group of guys. So whichever way the ball goes, I’m very optimistic it’s going to go well.”

TONIGHT

vs. Arizona State, 7:30

Site--Sports Arena.

Radio--KMPC (1540).

Records--No. 25 USC 16-6, 8-4 in Pac-10; Arizona State 13-9, 6-7.

Update--While USC beat Arizona State, 81-73, at Tempe on Jan. 19, the Sun Devils are the only team in the Pac-10 to have beaten first-place Arizona and second-place Oregon. Arizona State senior forward Awvee Storey is out for at least two weeks after taking a blow to the eye Saturday. USC forward Sam Clancy has been named to an all-district team by the National Assn. Of Basketball Coaches.

Tickets--(213) 740-4672.

Paul Gutierrez