Ezra Ausar posted his first double-double of the season with 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Southern California ran past visiting UTSA, 97-70, Wednesday in Los Angeles.
USC (11-1) fell behind 31-27 late in the first half before pouring in 13 unanswered points in 3:23 to take a 40-31 lead into halftime. The Trojans continued to gradually build on the half-ending run, until a 14-2 run midway through the second half that put the game away.
USC’s lead swelled to as many as 29 points with the Trojans shooting 33-of-60 from the floor and 9-of-23 from 3-point range. Ryan Cornish, who came into Wednesday’s contest with seven total points on the season, erupted for 4-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc on the way to 18 points.
Chad Baker-Mazara added a pair of 3-pointers and finished with 20 points for his fifth game scoring 20-plus in the last six.
On the other end of the floor, USC held UTSA to just 22-of-63 shooting (34.9%). The Roadrunners endured a field-goal drought of almost six minutes during the pivotal Trojans run which spanned halftime.
UTSA (4-7) leveraged 17 offensive rebounds from its poor shooting, but only managed a 16-12 advantage in second-chance points. USC finished with 33 total rebounds, including 10 on the offensive glass, paced by Ausar.
Ausar produced eight double-doubles in previous stops at East Carolina and Utah, but fell just short of that mark with his previous season rebounding high of nine vs. Oregon on Dec. 2. His 10 boards on Wednesday complemented his second game in the last three with 22-plus points, He scored a career-high 29 in USC’s win at San Diego last week.
Jamir Simpson and Brent Moss led UTSA with 16 points each. Kaidon Rayfield added 14 points.
Dorian Hayes dished five assists to go with his six points, but was also forced into six turnovers. USC came up with 17 forced turnovers in total, three of which came from Jacob Cofie steals.
Cofie was also one of five Trojans to score in double-figures, notching 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting. Jordan Marsh, who swiped another three steals, added 11 points.
