Jan. 15, 2005
By MEL REISNER
AP Sports Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. - Nick Young had a career-high 22 points and Lodrick Stewart scored 19 on Saturday night, leading Southern California to a 98-94 win over Arizona State that ended the Trojans' worst Pac-10 start in 16 years.
USC (8-9, 1-5) hadn't lost its first six conference games since going 0-12 during the 1988-89 season. The Trojans snapped that skid with an 84-81 overtime win over Arizona State in Tempe.
Gabriel Pruitt had all 14 points in the second half. Jeff McMillan scored 13 and Nick Curtis 10 for the Trojans, and each had eight rebounds as USC won the battle on the glass 34-30 - helping its effective fast break.
Young had 19 points in the second half, which USC started with a 46-41 lead.
Arizona State (13-4, 2-3) fought back to lead twice, only to fall behind and take its second straight loss for the first time this season.
Serge Angounou led Arizona State with a career-high 20 points.
Kevin Kruger had 17 and Ike Diogu 15. Diogu also had five blocks, but matched his season-low in points under the strain of incessant double-teaming and fouled out for the first time this season.
Angounou gave the Sun Devils a 58-56 lead with a reverse dunk with 10:59 to play, and made two free throws 31 seconds later to negate a 3-pointer by Pruitt.
McMillan made a hook shot as USC regained the lead for good, 61-60, at the 10:15 mark, and Young had 11 points in the next 8 minutes while the Trojans ran to an 84-74 lead.
Interim coach Jim Saia kept Rory O'Neil, who had started every game, and Pruitt, who had started 12 straight, on the bench for the first 6{ minutes, and the Trojans still trailed just 15-14 after Stewart's third 3-pointer with 13:48 remaining.
O'Neill then made his first three shots during a surge that lifted USC to a 29-20 lead with 7:47 to go.
But the Sun Devils, with Diogu unable to get a clear shot, relied on other players during a 13-4 run to tie it at 33 on a 3-pointer by Kruger, setting off another run by the Trojans.