The Stanford Cardinal dropped into eighth place in the Pac-10 as they fell to the USC Trojans 69-53. The Cardinal were led by 13 points from Josh Owens and 11 points from Jeremy Green and Josh Huestis. USC had four players with double-digit point totals and were led by 19 points from Nikola Vucevic.
The Cardinal jumped out to an early 12-8 lead but it was all downhill from there as USC outscored them 32-19 the rest of the first half. Stanford grabbed the first basket of the second half to cut the Trojans lead to seven but USC used a 12-0 run to put the game out of reach the rest of the way.
Stanford, CA (Sports Network) – Nikola Vucevic tallied 19 points and 14 rebounds as the USC Trojans downed the Stanford Cardinal, 69-53, in a Pac-10 Conference matchup at Maples Pavilion. Alex Stepheson scored 15 points for USC (15-12, 7-7 Pac-10), while Donte Smith netted 13 points and Maurice Jones finished with 10 points. Josh Owens led Stanford (13-13, 6-9) with 13 points, while Jeremy Green and Josh Huestis each had 11 points and Dwight Powell grabbed 10 rebounds.
USC shot 59.3 percent from the field over the first 20 minutes to take a 40-31 lead into the break. The Trojans then held Stanford to just 20 percent shooting in the second half to earn the win. The Trojans flexed their muscles down low, outscoring the Cardinal 28-18 in the paint.