March 8, 2008
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Despite a season-high 19 points from Kenny Brown, No. 7/7 Stanford (24-6, 13-5 Pac-10) dropped a 77-64 decision to USC (20-10, 11-7) in Los Angeles on Saturday afternoon.
Brook Lopez added his sixth double-double of the year with 11 points and 10 rebounds for Stanford, which lost back-to-back games for the first time this season. Up next for Stanford is next week's Pac-10 Tournament in Los Angeles.
Robin Lopez scored in double-figures for the seventh straight game, chipping in with 16 points. However, it wasn't enough against USC, which held a 47-31 rebounding edge and built a 15-point second-half lead.
O.J. Mayo scored 25 points and Taj Gibson added 20 points and 11 rebounds to lead USC. Dwight Lewis had 14 points and Davon Jefferson added 11--six on his second and third 3-pointers of the season--as the Trojans won for the fifth time in six games as they try to secure an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament.
USC became the first team this year to haul down 40 rebounds against Stanford. The Cardinal had 23 offensive rebounds alone in a 52-46 victory over USC two months ago.
Perhaps still feeling the affects of Thursday night's 77-67 overtime loss at No. 3 UCLA in which it blew a 14-point lead, Stanford fell behind by 14 in the opening 6 1/2 minutes against USC.
The Cardinal weren't closer than four points after that.
It was 39-33 before the Trojans outscored the Cardinal 10-4 for a 12-point lead early in the second half. USC had a 33-14 rebounding advantage at that stage.
The Cardinal drew within six again on 3-pointers by Brown and Mitch Johnson before Mayo sparked a 7-0 spurt with two baskets and an alley-oop pass to Jefferson for a dunk that made it 58-45 with 9:24 remaining.
USC led 22-8 when Brown, who entered the game averaging 3.4 points and had not scored a bucket since Valentine's Day, scored eight straight to trim USC's lead to six.
The Trojans led 39-31 at halftime after outrebounding Stanford 25-12. Brown's 13 points at that stage were one more than his previous season high.
The regular-season finale was billed as senior day at Galen Center, but the Trojans are made up of underclassmen, although freshmen Mayo and Jefferson and sophomore Gibson, all starters, might declare for this summer's NBA draft.