SAN DIEGO, CA -- Coming off a loss that frankly came out of nowhere their last time out against the Washington Huskies, the USC Trojans looked to bounce back against SDU, but turnovers were a commonality for the Trojans, committing a season-high of 21, but somehow, a quick turn around in halves changed the Trojans' direction as they came away with the win against the Toreros by a final of 94-81.
The first half for the Trojans went about as you expect, with a familiar turnover-heavy start on the road, as USC committed 13 early turnovers. In the back-and-forth contest, Chad Baker-Mazara again displayed an early clinic by scoring 15 first-half points and going a perfect 3-3 from beyond the arc.
After notching 7 first-half points, Ezra Ausar would be all over the floor for the Trojans in the second half, both defensively and offensively, as he snagged 5 rebounds and scored 22 points on 8-9 shooting. Ausar would finish his night with a career high of 29 points.
Baker-Mazara would follow suit behind him as he notched 16 second-half points and finished his night with a team high of 31 points on 8-11 shooting and 5-6 from three-point range. With Ausar and Baker-Mazara racking up points like madmen in the second half, it was the building block for the Trojans to go on an 18-2 run that started with USC trailing USD 48-46.
As a whole, the Trojans shot tremendously from the floor, notching 62% on field goal attempts, but no other number jumped out like the Trojans' percentage from three-point range. The Trojans shot 56% from beyond the arc, with Jaden Brownell (4-5) and Baker-Mazara (5-6) leading the charge from the three-ball.
The Toreros had no answer for the Trojans' hot second-half shooting as Southern California improved to 9-1 on the young season and travel back home to the Galen Center on Sunday evening to play the Washington State Cougars.