USC HAS SENIOR NIGHT IN SEATTLE EX-TROJAN LIGHTS FIRE, INSPIRES UPPERCLASSMEN IN ROUT USC 87, WASH. 65.

Byline: Scott Wolf  Staff Writer

SEATTLE - Former USC forward Brian Scalabrine had a rocky relationship with coach Henry Bibby last season, so his breakfast visit with the Trojans on Thursday was important to the current seniors, who receive their share of criticism from Bibby.

``I know I screwed up my senior year,'' said Scalabrine, who is with the New Jersey Nets but hasn't played an NBA game while recovering from a broken foot. ``I just talked about the NBA and the things I did in college and wished I did differently, looking back. Now that I'm in the NBA, I realize how hard I have to work, and I don't think I grasped that in college.

``A lot of the things Bibby told me were right. I told the team that you have to take advantage of every day because you don't know what will happen.''

Scalabrine's pep talk seemed to work. The Trojans seniors played their best collective game of the season in an 87-65 rout of Washington in USC's Pacific-10 Conference opener in front of 6,318 at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

USC's seniors scored 66 points, led by point guard Brandon Granville's career-high 27. Senior forward Sam Clancy added a season-high 25 points, and senior forward David Bluthenthal had 14 points and nine rebounds.

The Trojans (9-2, 1-0) played with a new-found intensity and unselfishness after some inconsistent times during their nonconference schedule, and Scalabrine's message found a receptive audience.

``I think it meant a lot to hear him,'' Bluthenthal said. ``It really re-established my sense of urgency. He talked about how he waited too long to push himself and dropped to the second round in the draft.''

It was the kind of performance that made even Bibby happy - for at least one night.

``It's one game so I don't know, but I thought the seniors stepped up,'' he said. ``When they play, David, Sam and Brandon are pretty good. I've gone with them the whole exhibition season hoping they would play like this. We had three guys play tonight, when in our other games we've had (fewer) guys play.''

Granville set the pace in the first half, when he made 8 of 11 shots and was 4 for 6 on 3-pointers. After Washington cut the lead to 36-25 with 3:40 left in the first half, Granville hit back-to-back 3-point shots to boost the lead to 42-25.

``My first couple of shots didn't feel good but went down, so I said, `I might have something going tonight,''' Granville said.

Washington (6-5, 0-2) never got closer than 15 points in the second half, and the Trojans finished with season highs in points (87), field goals (36) and assists (22).

Afterward, Scalabrine visited the locker room to congratulate his former teammates. The 6-foot-9 redhead, who grew up outside Seattle, was in town because the Nets told him to go home for Christmas while he waits for his foot to recover. He's expected to return in six to eight weeks.

``I just told the seniors to stay away from the grind of basketball,'' Scalabrine said. ``The games are fun, but make sure the rest is, too. The meetings and everything else, listening to coach Bibby, is hard.''

--Notes: The Trojans are playing Washington and Washington State the week after UCLA visited the Pacific Northwest because Washington State said it could not play two games last week because finals did not end until last Friday.

The scheduling quirk has not been embraced by Washington, who had no say in the matter and did not like the idea of being the opening game for both Los Angeles schools, which meant more time was spent preparing to play the Huskies than Washington State. ...

USC freshman point guard Derrick Craven suited up for the first time this season after missing 10 games with a stress fracture in his right leg. Although the fracture has recovered, he is not in good enough shape to play in a game and he did not see action.

Craven is not expected to play Sunday against Washington State.