Trojans Win, but at a Price

Two days after securing a landmark victory over 17th-ranked North Carolina, USC came out sluggish Friday night at the Sports Arena in the first half of a costly 68-38 victory over winless North Carolina A&T.;

The Trojans’ ninth consecutive victory came with a steep price tag: the loss of RouSean Cromwell for four to six weeks after the freshman forward stepped on a ball in pregame warmups and fractured his right foot.

“It was just a freak accident,” said Cromwell, who was averaging 4.7 points and 5.3 rebounds. “I’m not as messed up about it being broken as the fact that I can’t get on the floor and do something for my team.”

USC’s first significant injury of the season leaves the Trojans (9-2) woefully thin up front and will place an increased burden on center Abdoulaye N’diaye and forward Jeremy Barr while thrusting seldom-used forward Keith Wilkinson into the regular rotation.

“That’s a lick for us,” Coach Tim Floyd said. “Most teams have five bigs and we have three, and we were saving some scholarships for the following year.”

Although the Trojans pulled away from the Aggies (0-8) early in the second half, it still was not the kind of display they wanted in their final tuneup before opening Pacific 10 Conference play Thursday against California at Staples Center.

More than six minutes into the game, the Trojans were still stuck on four points. The defensive pressure that had foiled the Tar Heels was missing in action. Not even the shrill sound of public address announcer Petros Papadakis could infuse any energy into the proceedings.

“That was a tough game for us to play in after two nights ago,” Floyd said. “I don’t think we overlooked them by any means, I just don’t think we were real crisp offensively.

“I’d like to say we didn’t play well, but we did play well defensively. We did play with effort, and I think what you really get concerned with is not having effort.”

Junior guard Lodrick Stewart, who was benched 21 seconds into the game after taking a quick jumper, finished with a game-high 19 points for USC, which held North Carolina A&T; to 26.7% shooting. The Aggies did not have a player score in double figures.

“I think we played hard on defense early and on offense we jacked up a couple of shots,” said sophomore guard Gabe Pruitt, who had 13 points. “We just weren’t crisp with what we were doing.”

The Aggies kept things close until freshman guard Sead Odzic’s three-pointer at the halftime buzzer started a 25-7 run that put the game out of reach.

Given a big lead to play with, Floyd was able to dole out precious playing time for his reserves. Freshman guard Collin Robinson made two short jumpers and fed Wilkinson in the paint for an easy basket with a no-look pass.

Even walk-on guard Ryan Goldston made his season debut in the final two minutes, prompting a cheer from the Trojan bench.

The Trojans will now take two days off before reconvening Monday for an evening practice. They will be one man short for the foreseeable future.

“That’s a blow to our team with how much energy he brings,” Stewart said of Cromwell. “We’ve just got to keep playing. There’s going to be stuff thrown at us every game.”