No. 24 Southern California held San Diego State to 32.1 percent shooting from the floor en route to a 58-43 win in the championship game of the Wooden Legacy on Friday in Anaheim, Calif.
Isaiah Mobley led the Trojans (6-0) with 18 points and 12 rebounds.
After holding San Diego State to just 15 first-half, USC opened the second half on a 10-2 run. The spurt gave the Trojans a cushion for the rest of the game.
The Aztecs (4-2) briefly cut the deficit to eight points on two occasions with less than five minutes remaining, but USC responded with a 12-5 run to end the game.
Drew Peterson scored 16 points for the Trojans, and Chevez Goodwin added 10 points. Peterson and Anderson both grabbed six rebounds. Joshua Morgan came off the USC bench to pull down eight boards, helping the Trojans finish with a 49-33 edge on the glass.
Goodwin and Mobley also each blocked two shots, contributing to the all-around stellar defensive effort the Trojans put forth. In addition to holding San Diego State to just 18-of-56 shooting from the floor, USC overwhelmed Aztecs’ leading scorer on the season, Matt Bradley.
Bradley scored just three points, making his only basket, on seven attempts, as part of a three-point play with 1:20 left in the game. The Trojans’ stifling play limited all but Trey Pulliam, who scored 11 points, to single digits for the night.
The Aztecs’ Lamont Butler scored nine points on 4-of-14 shooting, and Aguek Arop added another nine points off the bench. Nathan Mensah scored eight points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds, but Mensah shot 0 of 3 from the free-throw line.
San Diego State’s collective shooting woes extended to the foul line, where the Aztecs finished 4 of 11. USC was not any better, going 6 of 18 at the line, but the Trojans’ 24-of-57 performance (42.1 percent) from the floor made up the difference.
–Field Level Media
