Wright, Schwartz help Colorado beat Southern Cal 72-62

Jan 1, 2021, 05:31 am

LOS ANGELES -- — McKinley Wright IV had 17 points, D'Shawn Schwartz added 13 points and a career-high 10 rebounds, and Colorado beat Southern California 72-62 on Thursday night.

Evan Battey scored 11 points and Jeriah Horne 10 for Colorado (7-2, 1-1 Pac-12).

Maddox Daniels hit a 3-pointer and, after USC's Isaiah Mobley made a layup to tie it at 12-all, Schwartz hit another 3 to give Colorado the lead for good about six minutes into the game. The Buffaloes scored 12 of the final 14 first-half points, capped by back-to-back 3s by Wright and Horne to make it 44-33 at the break.

Tahj Eaddy hit four 3-pointers and finished with 16 points for the Trojans (5-2, 0-1). Freshman Evan Mobley had 12 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.

Noah Baumann and Eaddy each made a 3 before Chevez Goodwin hit two free throws in an 8-0 run over a 25-second span that pulled USC to 57-55 with nine minutes to play but the Trojans made just one of their next 11 field-goal attempts as Colorado used an 11-3 spurt to push its lead back into double figures when Battey converted a three-point play with 98 second remaining.

Colorado shot 53% (16 of 30) in the first half, including 7 of 13 from 3-point range. The Buffs made just 9 of 30 from the field in the second half, but went 9 of 9 from the free-throw line. Colorado, which finished 14 of 16 from the stripe, went into the game leading the nation in free-throw shooting at 85.4%,

USC went into the game having held its opponents to 35.5% shooting this season, sixth-best in the country, and hadn't allowed a team to shoot better than 37.7% since California Baptist shot 45.1% in the opener.