Jan. 11, 1997
Knight's Season-High 27 Points Leads No. 21 Stanford Past USC, 85-70
STANFORD, Calif. -- Brevin Knight scored a season-high 27 points as number 21 Stanford pulled away for an 85-70 Pac-10 Conference victory over Southern California.
Knight set a season high for the second consecutive game for the Cardinal (10-2, 3-1 Pac-10), who have won nine of their last 10 games. Stanford, which was coming off a 48-point demolition of UCLA on Thursday, played like it was suffering a letdown for the first 25-plus minutes.
"We anticipated this going into the week," said Stanford coach Mike Montgomery. "We didn't have a real good feeling about playing USC. They are athletic, hungry and they play well."
Stais Boseman scored 19 points for the Trojans (7-5, 2-2), who fell to 1-4 on the road and are 0-4 overall when giving up 80 or more points. The Trojans lead the all-time series 107-100, but have lost seven of the last eight games between the schools.
"Brevin Knight is the best point guard in the country," said USC coach Henry Bibby. "It was shown the way he took control of the game from the very beginning. We played good in the first half. We did the things we wanted to and executed some plays. In the second half, we were struggling to get shots."
The Trojans tied the game for the last time at 49-49 on a layup by Boseman with 15:10 to play, but Stanford went on a 17-4 run over the next 7:31.
Tim Young had a tip-in of a miss by Peter Sauer with 14:42 to play, giving Stanford the lead for good. Young added two free throws and David Moseley knocked down a three-pointer before Knight made a driving layup to give Stanford a 58-49 lead with 12:40 to go.
Boseman and Jarvis Turner had baskets around an eight-footer by Sauer to make it 60-53, but Young threw down a dunk, and Knight added four free throws to cap the run and give the Cardinal a 66-53 bulge with 7:39 remaining. The Trojans came no closer than nine points down the stretch.
Stanford could not shake the Trojans in the first half and opened up a five-point lead only once. USC used a 9-2 run, fueled by five points from Turner, to open up a 34-28 lead with 4:02 remaining on a six-footer by Rodrick Rhodes.
The Cardinal answered with a 9-4 burst to close the half as Southern Cal held a 38-37 lead. Stanford, which made 15 three-pointers in its rout of UCLA, was just 2-of-11 from long range in the first half.
Young finished with 21 points and Moseley, a freshman, added a season-high 19 off the bench, 15 on three-pointers. Stanford shot 65 percent (15-of-23) from the field in the second half and held a 34-25 rebounding advantage. Knight sank all 11 of his free throws.
"I took the opportunity that was given to me," said Moseley, who entered the game with just 31 points in 10 games but doubled his season three-point total. "I had to step it up. The first part of my confidence came on the defensive end. I knew I was going to get to play more as long as I played well on defense."
"Fortunately, we found Moseley off the bench," added Montgomery. "He came in and shot the ball very well. We decided he was a better option because of his defensive abilities. He saved our bacon in the first half and kept it going."
Turner finished with 17 points and eight rebounds off the bench for USC, which shot 45 percent (24-of-53) from the field. David Crouse, who tried to contain Young, fouled out with just six points in 21 minutes.
USC (70)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Williams 26 4-8 1-2 1-2 2 2 10
White 29 0-4 0-0 2-3 0 4 0
Crouse 21 1-3 4-6 1-2 0 5 6
Ayuso 16 2-3 2-2 0-1 2 2 8
Boseman 37 8-18 0-0 0-3 4 3 19
Rhodes 12 1-2 3-6 0-2 2 2 5
Sims 17 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 2 3
Turner 30 6-8 5-6 6-8 0 0 17
Johnson 11 1-4 0-0 0-0 1 1 2
Shoukry 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
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TOTALS 200 24-53 15-22 10-21 13 21 70
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Percentages: FG-.453, FT-.682. 3-Point Goals:
7-15, .467 (Williams 1-1, Ayuso 2-3, Boseman 3-6,
Rhodes 0-1, Sims 1-2, Turner 0-1, Johnson 0-1).
Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 5 (Turner 2,
Boseman, White, Crouse). Turnovers: 17 (Rhodes 5,
Boseman 3, Turner 2, Williams 2, Ayuso, Johnson,
Sims, White). Steals: 8 (White 2, Williams 2,
Johnson, Rhodes, Sims, Turner).
STANFORD (85)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Jackson 21 0-2 0-0 3-7 2 2 0
Sauer 24 5-8 0-0 0-4 4 1 10
Young 28 7-9 7-7 2-5 1 3 21
Weems 21 1-6 0-0 3-4 4 2 2
Knight 35 8-15 11-11 0-0 5 3 27
Lee 14 1-4 4-4 0-1 0 3 6
Madsen 13 0-3 0-0 2-4 0 2 0
Van Elswyk 10 0-1 0-1 2-4 0 2 0
Moseley 25 6-9 2-3 1-5 2 1 19
Seaton 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Mendez 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
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TOTALS 200 28-57 24-26 13-34 18 20 85
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Percentages: FG-.491, FT-.923. 3-Point Goals:
5-17, .294 (Jackson 0-2, Sauer 0-1, Weems 0-4,
Knight 0-2, Moseley 5-8). Team rebounds: 1.
Blocked shots: 5 (Young 2, Knight, Moseley,
Seaton). Turnovers: 17 (Knight 4, Weems 4, Lee 2,
Van Elswyk 2, Jackson, Madsen, Moseley, Sauer,
Young). Steals: 10 (Knight 5, Moseley 2, Lee,
Sauer, Young).
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Usc 38 32 - 70
Stanford 37 48 - 85
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Technical fouls: None. A: 7,305. Officials:
Richard Ballesteros, Don Mcallister, David
Sparkes.