Southern California bolted out to a 26-point, first-half lead and overcame the loss of its top scorer to post an easy 79-59 nonconference victory over Alabama State in Montgomery, Ala., on Tuesday night.
Arrinten Page came off the bench to score 12 points for the Trojans (6-5), while freshman point guard Isaiah Collier and Kobe Johnson each added 11. Eleven players scored points for USC, which got just two points from Boogie Ellis, who entered Tuesday with a team-high 21.4 points per game.
Ellis left the game with just over six minutes remaining in the first half after he fell hard on his hip following a layup that was rejected. He limped back to the bench and didn’t return to the game, although the Trojans didn’t need him to cruise past the Hornets.
TJ Madlock scored a game-high 17 points for Alabama State (4-6), while Isaiah Range added 13. The Hornets had serious issues making shots, hitting just 23 of 70 attempts from the field and 8 of 27 from 3-point range.
In addition, Alabama State was swamped 52-39 on the boards and was outscored 44-19 off the bench. With such a big lead, USC was able to give its reserves 95 minutes of action. That included playing time for Bronny James, the son of NBA superstar LeBron James, who scored six points in his third collegiate game.
Tuesday’s contest was decided in the opening 14 minutes. The Trojans didn’t shoot well but didn’t need to because the Hornets started 3 of 24 from the field. USC took its first double-digit lead at the 13:08 mark of the first half when Kijani Wright put back Ellis’ miss for a 12-2 advantage.
The margin stayed in double figures for the game’s remainder, swelling to 21 when Page drained a 3-pointer at the 8:23 mark for a 28-7 lead. Alabama State endured a scoring drought of nearly six minutes until a CJ Hines putback with 4:52 to go made it 33-9.
USC led 39-18 at the break and never led by fewer than 13 for the rest of the way.
–Field Level Media