National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Southern California 64, Vermont 56
When: 11:30 PM ET, Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Where: Galen Center, Los Angeles, California
Officials: # Rick Batsell, # David Hall, # Kurt Walker
Attendance: 4553

USC 64, Vermont 56: Strahinja Gavrilovic scored a career-high 15 points off the bench and the host Trojans held off the Catamounts in a non-conference game.

Nikola Jovanovic recorded 12 points and 10 rebounds for USC (8-4), which never trailed but nearly blew a 19-point lead. Katin Reinhardt added 11 points for the Trojans, who have won six of their last seven games.

Kurt Steidl hit four 3-pointers en route to a game-high 18 points and Ethan O’Day chipped in with 14 for Vermont (5-7), which has lost three straight. Hector Harold returned to the lineup after missing three games with a foot injury but scored only four points on 1-of-10 shooting while grabbing nine rebounds.

The Trojans quickly built an 11-3 lead before Vermont, which made just one of its first 11 shots, trimmed the deficit to 19-15. The Catamounts, however, scored just two points in the final 5:15 of the first half and the Trojans took a 43-26 lead into the break.

Vermont used a 12-0 run to get within 54-48 with 7:50 to play, but the cold-shooting Catamounts never got closer than four points the rest of the way, missing a slew of wide-open 3-pointers. Vermont shot just 30.2 percent and turned over the ball 17 times.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Vermont starting sophomore G Dre Wills suffered an apparent ankle injury early in the first half but returned after the intermission. …USC begins conference play on Jan. 2 at Utah. … Trojans G Elijah Stewart, who was 10-for-10 from the floor in his last game, went 0-for-4 and finished with two points.

Top Game Performances
 
Vermont   Southern California
Kurt Steidl 18 Scoring Strahinja Gavrilovic 15
Trae Bell-Haynes 4 Assists Malik Marquetti 3
Hector Harold 9 Rebounds Nikola Jovanovic 10
Kurt Steidl 4 Free Throws Made Strahinja Gavrilovic 9
Ethan O'Day 5 Steals Chass Bryan 3
Hector Harold 1 Blocks Darion Clark 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Vermont 56 30.2 5-23 13-15 11 37 3 13 17
Southern California 64 41.1 1-7 17-25 10 41 8 11 15