USC Trojans dominate Huskies 87-61

LOS ANGELES —

LOS ANGELES — USC turned a basketball contest against Washington into a simple physics equation.

Using their mass, muscle and length, the Trojans overwhelmed the smaller Huskies, who were trying to break their winless streak on the road.

No way. No how. No chance.

Not against a bigger USC lineup that pounded out an 87-61 victory in front of 5,876 at Galen Center. The Trojans repeatedly hammered the Huskies in the middle with their dominant front line.

"Their defense is outstanding," UW coach Lorenzo Romar said. "It's hard to get anything consistently playing against a defense like that. They're so long."

Behind the combined efforts of center Nikola Vucevic, forwards Alex Stepheson and Marcus Johnson, USC bullied its way beneath the glass.

And at times, the Trojans leaped over and around the Huskies for several highlight finishes at the rim.

"Guys shot the three, took us off the dribble and their bigs went to work," guard Venoy Overton said. "It's kind of hard when they're doing it inside and out."

Johnson set the tone early when he converted an acrobatic alley-oop layin in traffic. He finished with a game-high 22 points, five rebounds and four assists.

Stepheson (15 points) and Vucevic (11 points and 13 rebounds) continued the theme, powering in dunks against the Huskies (12-7, 3-5 Pac-10), who were helpless to defend the onslaught.

In the opening minutes, the Huskies looked as if they were still stunned and recovering from Thursday's last-second defeat at UCLA.

"I'm not so sure if we were totally over the UCLA loss," Romar said. "It's something we talked about. Let's turn the page. Let's move on."

Washington missed 10 of its first 13 shots and committed four turnovers to fall behind 19-6.

Washington trailed 22-10 when it made a run with an unusual lineup that didn't include leading scorers Quincy Pondexter or Isaiah Thomas.

Behind Overton, the Huskies avoided an early blowout. The backup Huskies guard scored 12 of his season-high 18 points before halftime on hard dribble drives.

Washington trailed 42-32 at the break and lost control of the game early in the second half when it fell behind 51-34.

As good as Johnson was offensively, he was even better defensively when he locked up Pondexter and held him to a season-low two points on 1-for-10 shooting.

The Trojans, improved to 12-7, 4-3 and climbed into a second-place tie in the conference standings. USC, which is banned from postseason play, has 11 games remaining in the season.

"To play against a team that knows they're playing for nothing and can't go to a tournament," Overton said. "They're just out there having fun. That's how we've got to do it."

Washington remains winless on the road after six games and returns home to face Seattle University on Tuesday.

"You've just got to crawl back a little bit at a time," Romar said. "I don't know if you can have long-term goals at this point other than let's get back on the right track. Let's get back to how we were last week."

Percy Allen: 206-464-2278 or pallen@seattletimes.com

WASHINGTON 61
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Pondexter	31	1-10	0-1	3-8	1	3	2
Holiday	33	4-10	0-0	3-4	0	1	8
Breshers	7	0-2	0-0	1-3	0	3	0
Thomas	21	3-10	7-9	1-2	1	2	14
Gaddy	22	3-6	0-1	2-4	1	4	6
Overton	23	7-13	3-3	0-2	0	4	18
Bryn-Amng	29	3-5	2-2	3-6	2	1	8
Trent	5	0-1	0-0	0-1	0	1	0
Suggs	15	1-2	0-0	0-0	0	1	3
Turner	6	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Gant	8	1-3	0-0	0-2	0	1	2
	200	23-62	12-16	14-34	5	21	61

Percentages: FG .371, FT .750. Three-point goals: 3-13, .231 (Suggs 1-1, Overton 1-3, Thomas 1-5, Pondexter 0-2, Holiday 0-2). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 1 (Bryan-Amaning). Turnovers: 13 (Thomas 3, Holiday 2, Gaddy 2, Bryan-Amaning 2, Overton 2, Breshers, Pondexter). Steals: 5 (Pondexter 2, Bryan-Amaning 2, Overton). Technical fouls: None.

USC 87
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Johnson	35	9-11	3-4	0-5	4	3	22
Stepheson	29	7-12	1-3	5-6	0	2	15
Vucevic	30	5-9	0-0	2-13	2	1	11
Lewis	27	6-12	4-4	0-2	2	4	19
Gerrity	35	4-6	6-8	0-2	7	1	15
Washington	19	1-4	3-3	0-1	0	1	5
DSmith	12	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	2	0
Simmons	13	0-0	0-1	0-3	0	1	0
	200	32-55	17-23	8-34	15	15	87

Percentages: FG .582, FT .739. Three-point goals: 6-10, .600 (Lewis 3-5, Johnson 1-1, Vucevic 1-2, Gerrity 1-2). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 4 (Stepheson 2, Washington, Simmons). Turnovers: 10 (Johnson 3, Washington 2, Simmons, Lewis, Gerrity, Stepheson). Steals: 5 (Johnson, Gerrity, Washington, D.Smith, Lewis). Technical fouls: None.

Washington	32	29	—	61
USC	42	45	—	87

Attendance: 5,876. Officials: Don McAllister, Gregory Nixon, Kurt Walker.