LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jonah Mathews scored 18 points and Southern California escaped with a 69-64 victory over Stanford on Wednesday night to maintain sole possession of second place in the Pac-12 Conference with its fifth straight win.
Chimezie Metu added 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Trojans (16-6, 7-2 Pac-12), who have won 10 of 12.
"Our defensive perspective has changed a lot over the last few weeks," Nick Rakocevic said. "We emphasizing defense a lot more and we're doing a good job of executing."
The third-place Cardinal (11-10, 5-3) missed a chance to move into a tie for second with USC. Reid Travis led Stanford with 16 points. Michael Humphrey and Dorian Pickens each added 14 points.
"We weren't in the flow of the game," Stanford coach Jerod Haase said. "It was kind of 'Hey, let's go out there and see how it goes and figure things out.' It can't be that way."
Humphrey hit a 3-pointer and Daejon Davis made two free throws that got Stanford to 66-64.
Jordan McLaughlin missed a 3-pointer and then missed 3 of 4 free throws that left USC clinging to a 67-64 lead.
Daejon Davis missed a potential tying 3-pointer for Stanford with 4 seconds left. USC regained possession and Elijah Stewart caught a long pass near midcourt and scored as time expired to seal the 69-64 decision.
Trailing by 15 points at the break, Stanford regrouped to start the second half with a 15-7 spurt. Pickens made 6 of 6 free throws and Travis added five points to cut the Cardinal's deficit to 48-41.
The Trojans took control with a 12-0 run that turned a four-point lead into a 15-point advantage in the first half. Nick Rakocevic had five points, one of four players to score in the spurt that extended USC's lead to 28-12.
USC led 41-26 at halftime after holding Stanford to 36 percent shooting.