SHORT-HANDED TROJANS NO MATCH FOR STANFORD : STANFORD 83, USC 59.

Byline: Scott Wolf Daily News Staff Writer

Coming off what was possibly its most embarrassing loss in years against California, USC got even more bad news before Saturday's game with Stanford. The Trojans entered their contest against No. 14-ranked Stanford without two of their top players.

Point guard Gary Johnson, the Trojans' second-leading scorer, was suspended after violating curfew at the team hotel Friday, a recurring problem for USC players this season. Shooting guard Elias Ayuso also missed the game because of poor academic performance.

Without them, it figured that USC would get blown out, and the Cardinal posted an 83-59 victory over the Trojans before 2,014 at the Sports Arena.

Combined with Thursday's 30-point loss to Cal, the Trojans suffered their largest total margin of defeat for consecutive home games in school history.

But the surprising aspect of the game was how close USC stayed to the Cardinal early. The Trojans led much of the first half, and trailed 33-31 at halftime. Then the Cardinal woke up. Stanford opened the second half with a 28-8 run to avoid suffering what would have been a stunning upset.

``We played as well as we could in the first half,'' USC coach Henry Bibby said. ``We're undermanned. They were just the better team. They got the ball inside whenever they wanted to.''

As much as Stanford hurt USC inside with its superior size and depth, the Cardinal (21-3, 10-2 Pac-10) did even more damage from the perimeter by hitting 11 3-pointers.

Guard Arthur Lee, who attended North Hollywood High School, had five 3-pointers and a game- and season-high 23 points. He scored a career-high 26 last season against USC at the Sports Arena.

For USC (7-16, 3-10), the contest was reduced to finding a silver lining, which is about all the Trojans can hope for these days.

The fact the Trojans played Stanford close for 20 minutes was something to gain confidence from, especially since the Cal game was a 40-minute disaster.

``I would like for people to see that that's the way we can play around here,'' said Gary Williams, who led the Trojans with 18 points and eight rebounds. ``To see that it doesn't have to be a fluke. But we've got to do it for 40 minutes.''

It's hard to be consistent when one player or another seems to be always be suspended. Last week, guard Ken Sims was kicked off the team after complaining about his playing time. Like Johnson, he had already been suspended for violating curfew.

Johnson would only answer ``no comment'' when asked why he was suspended. As for Ayuso, Bibby said: ``With him, you've got to go class.''

Bibby said both should be available for Wednesday's game against UCLA at the Sports Arena.

Aside from player problems, Bibby was also upset that Stanford shot 31 free throws, while USC attempted 17.

``Don't ask me about the officiating,'' he said.

Stanford did dominate inside, however, outrebounding USC 44-33. The Cardinal's 7-foot-1 center, Tim Young, had 19 points and 10 rebounds. Forward Mark Madsen added 12 rebounds and seven points.

Still, USC was clinging to hopes of pulling off the upset until the Cardinal opened the second by scoring 15 of the first 21 points.

``I thought we had a pretty good chance,'' USC guard Kevin Augustine said. ``But in the second half, early on, we didn't match their intensity. In the second half, they just pounded us inside.''

Notes: Stanford forward Jarron Collins of Harvard-Westlake finished with one point, three rebounds and three fouls in 11 minutes. . . . USC shot 46.7 percent, only the second time in the past seven games that the Trojans have eclipsed 45 percent. . . . USC used its 16th different starting lineup Saturday. . . . USC forward Adam Spanich did not play in the first half and ended up seeing only 12 minutes of action.