Trojans Left Whistling in the Dark

In his 18 seasons at Stanford, Mike Montgomery elevated his brand of referee-baiting to an art form.

Thursday night at Maples Pavilion, first-year Cardinal Coach Trent Johnson followed suit in Stanford’s come-from-behind 71-62 defeat of USC, finishing off a season sweep of the Trojans in front of 7,155.

With the third-place Cardinal trailing last-place USC, 35-32, at halftime, Johnson followed Dave Libbey, Tom Wood and Kevin Brill to the free-throw line and berated them, even though Stanford had been called for only two fouls in the game’s first 20 minutes. USC’s lame-duck staff was in a lather as it left the court.

Then, after Matt Haryasz was hammered by Jeff McMillan on a breakaway dunk attempt and no foul was called with less than three minutes to play, Johnson got in Wood’s face and had to be pulled back by an assistant.

No technical was called on Johnson.

The eight fouls called on Stanford for the game were a low in the Pacific 10 Conference this season. USC was called for 16 fouls and attempted a season-low six free throws. Stanford went to the line 17 times.

“It was real frustrating,” said USC freshman point guard Gabe Pruitt, who tied his career high with 23 points, though he scored only five in the second half. Pruitt also knocked down a career-high seven three-point shots, six in the first half.

“I let the ref know that they were getting too aggressive [in the second half], they were on my back, to look for it. They didn’t call it. It seemed to give [Stanford] the edge.”

USC fell to 10-15 overall, 3-11 in Pac-10 play.

Stanford (14-9, 8-5), was led by Haryasz’s career-high 23 points, and sophomore guard Fred Washington, who made his first college start in place of leading scorer Dan Grunfeld, also had a career high with 22 points. Washington entered the game averaging 2.3 points while Grunfeld, lost for the season after suffering a knee injury Saturday against California, was averaging 17.9.

“I can’t control the officials,” USC interim Coach Jim Saia said. “That’s all I’ll say about that.”

Instead, he pointed to the Trojans’ inability to close out the first half on a stronger run, and their mental mistakes in the game’s closing minutes.

That the Trojans, who led by nine midway through the first half, were within three points with just over two minutes remaining in regulation was news in itself, after Stanford had built a 63-49 advantage with 6:30 to play.

But after Lodrick Stewart -- who missed Tuesday’s 6 a.m. practice and was replaced in the starting lineup by Dwayne Shackleford -- culminated a late 13-2 run by making a three-point shot to get USC to within 65-62 with 2:39 to play, the Trojans suffered their brain cramp.

“We just don’t have the mental capacity to execute down the stretch in games,” Saia said. “We told them, ‘Don’t foul,’ and we get a cheap foul ... a dumb foul with 10 seconds on the shot clock.”

Pruitt was called for the reach-in.

“We give them the game,” Saia said. “We don’t make them earn the game.”

Haryasz made four free throws in a row to secure the win.

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Assistant coach Bob Cantu missed his third game in a row while recruiting for incoming coach Tim Floyd. Saia said he was not sure if Cantu, who has not been promised a job on Floyd’s staff, would appear on the Trojans’ bench again this season.