Blowout loss to USC is 6th straight for UW men

Associated Press

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – David Bluthenthal scored 18 points to lead five players in double figures and Southern California defeated Washington 94-74 Sunday for its eighth consecutive victory.

“We had an abundance of guys show up and that makes it much easier,” said Trojans coach Henry Bibby. “We get more people to give us a little more each game. We can go to the bench and all these guys have won games for us.”

The Trojans (12-2, 4-0 Pac-10) completed a sweep of the Washington schools, and also swept the Huskies (6-8, 0-4) for the third consecutive season. USC won 87-65 in Seattle on Dec. 27.

“On any given night any one of us can go for 20 and other guys play well,” Bluthenthal said. “We won all four games pretty handily, so that shows us we’re playing 40 minutes now. We’re not playing down to our opponents.”

Doug Wrenn scored a career-high 29 points to lead Washington, which lost its sixth straight game overall and seventh in a row to the Trojans, who also beat the Huskies seven straight from 1966-69.

“I don’t understand our swagger. I guess you can blame it on youth. When the season started, we thought we could beat the USCs and UCLAs. It’s not his fault,” he said, referring to coach Bob Bender. “Some people have to look at themselves, look at their own issues. It’s not about how many points you score, it’s about the team.”

The Trojans improved to 8-5 at the Forum, where they’ll take on crosstown rival No. 14 UCLA, also 4-0 in the Pac-10, on Thursday.

USC is playing three consecutive games in Inglewood while the Los Angeles Sports Arena is used as a practice rink for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

The Trojans also had five players in double figures in an 85-64 victory over Washington State on Friday. On Sunday, Sam Clancy, Brandon Granville and freshman Errick Craven each had 17 points and Desmon Farmer added 15.

The Trojans’ forced 26 turnovers, and outscored Washington 32-12 off the miscues.

“It’s the same type of performance we saw at our place, and we added to our problems with turnovers,” Bender said. “USC had things pretty much their own way. I thought we’d be more prepared mentally and I thought we’d handle their physicalness.”

The Huskies led once early in the game before USC built a double-digit lead it never came close to surrendering. Farmer scored nine of USC’s 13 points in one stretch to give the Trojans their largest lead of the first half, 47-23.

In the teams’ previous meeting 10 days ago, USC also opened fast and never looked back. Granville scored a career-high 27 points and Clancy had 25.

This time, USC led 51-30 at halftime and stretched its lead to 79-47 on two free throws by Farmer with 8:35 remaining. Clancy scored 11 straight points to help build that lead.

Wrenn scored 13 of Washington’s 15 points during a five-minute stretch when the Huskies’ deficit hovered at 31.