A seesaw battle between the USC and Idaho men’s basketball programs swung the Trojans’ way Monday night, as the Vandals fell 74-55 in Los Angeles.
Despite a 17-point showing from sophomore guard Victor Sanders, the Vandals (5-5) could not contain a second-half outburst from the Trojans offense.
“They made a couple of real good shots at the start of the game,” said USC coach Andy Enfield. “They did a good job in the paint early on.”
Idaho junior guard Perrion Callandret and senior forward Nahshon George combined for 14 points in the first half. Senior point guard Chris Sarbaugh and junior forward Tyler Egbert both collected four rebounds a piece for the Vandals in the first 20 minutes of play.
Junior forward Nikola Jovanovic led the way for the Trojans in the first half with seven points.
Idaho outrebounded USC 21-12 in the first half of play, but gave up 15 points off turnovers. The two teams entered halftime locked in a 30-30 tie.
USC (7-2) began the second half with back-to-back 3-pointers to take a 36-30 lead over Idaho.
The Vandals could not recover from the initial six-point deficit, allowing the Trojans to amass 44 second-half points en route to the team’s seventh win of the season.
The Trojans capitalized on 23 Idaho turnovers, taking a 56-45 lead late in the second half to quell any chance of an Idaho comeback.
Freshman forward Bennie Boatwright finished the game with 17 points and five rebounds for the Trojans, while junior guard Katin Reinhardt added another 17 points.
George contributed 11 points while Callandret finished with nine.
Despite outrebounding the Trojans 39-27, Idaho struggled to convert offensive possessions into points, shooting just 5 of 23 from 3-point range.
The Vandals committed 19 fouls, which translated to 10 points for USC from the free-throw line.
Idaho hosts the Washington State Cougars in the 270th edition of the “Battle of the Palouse” – the annual rivalry game between the two programs – at 6:05 p.m. Thursday at the Cowan Spectrum.
Josh Grissom can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @GoshJrissom