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USDvsUSCfinalbox2016

SAN DIEGO, CALIF. -- The USD men's basketball team dropped a 76-55 home contest to the visiting USC Trojans before 2,921 fans at the Jenny Craig Pavilion. Sophomore guard Olin Carter III scored a game-high 21 points and senior Brett Bailey chipped in with 17 points and 7 rebounds. USC, which improved to 7-0 on the season, was paced by Chimezie Metu with 19 points and 13 rebounds.

"In the first half I thought we did a great job attacking their zone, especially Tyler Williams," said head coach Lamont Smith. "Then they went man and it jacked up our timing and caught us off guard a little bit. We knew going in that we needed to make some threes, but also attack on close outs. We just didn't make enough to make their guys fly at us. Overall I thought we did some things well. We didn't get to the backboard well in the first half but improved in that area in the second half. We just need to continue to chop wood and allow our freshmen to grow up."

Early in the first half the Toreros were within 15-12 following a Brett Bailey dunk with 13:21 to go. Sophomore guard Tyler Williams also gave the team a spark in the early going by hitting his first three shots from the floor including two treys. The USC Trojans went on a 6-0 run capped off by a De'Anthony Melton dunk to extend their lead to 21-12.

At the break the Trojans held a 43-31 advantage with Chimezie Metu leading the way with 12 points and 7 rebounds. He converted 6-of-7 shots in 14 minutes of action. The Trojans out-rebounded the Toreros 24-11. The Toreros were paced by Olin Carter III with 11 points, followed by Brett Bailey (9 points) and Tyler Williams (8).

In the second half the Toreros battled to within 10 at 46-36 on a Carter jumper with 18:30 to go. Over the next 7:37 the Trojans would push ahead to a 55-38 advantage with Elijah Stewart leading the way with 5 points during the 9-2 run. San Diego kept competing and a lay-in from Bailey at the 4:00 minute mark pulled the Toreros to within 67-55, but USC would close out the game with a 9-0 run.

For the game USC out-rebounded the smaller Toreros 44-28, and converted 50.8% from the field (30-59) to USD's 31.6% (18-57). The Toreros attempted 34 three-pointers, one shy of the school record, and converted 8 with Carter leading the way with 5-for-15 shooting beyond the arc.

The Toreros head to Flagstaff, Arizona this Saturday for a contest against the NAU Lumberjacks. Game time is 12:30 p.m. (PST) with Ben Pearson filling in for Jack Cronin on the radio call (1700 AM). The game will also air locally on Fox Sports San Diego.