National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
UCLA 96, Southern California 70
When: 5:30 PM ET, Thursday, March 12, 2015
Where: MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada
Officials: # Deidre Carr, # Gregory Nixon, # Tony Padilla
Attendance: 12916

UCLA 96, USC 70: Isaac Hamilton scored a career-high 36 points as the fourth-seeded Bruins ran over the Trojans in the Pac-12 tournament quarterfinal in Las Vegas.

Hamilton, a 6-4 sophomore guard who sat out last season after transferring from UTEP, shot 13-for-17 from the floor and 7-of-9 from 3-point range for UCLA (20-12), which will play top-seeded Arizona in Friday’s semifinals. Tony Parker and Norman Powell scored 14 points apiece and Bryce Alford had seven points, seven assists and seven rebounds for the Bruins, who shot 60.3 percent from the floor.

Katin Reinhardt scored 20 points off the bench to lead No. 12 seed USC, which upset fifth-seeded Arizona State in the opening round. Nikola Jovanovic added 17 points and six rebounds and Elijah Stewart finished with 12 points and three steals for the Trojans (12-20).

Playing against the Trojans for the second time in nine days, Hamilton scored 18 points in the opening half, nearly doubling his 10.1 average, as the Bruins surged to a 47-29 lead. Hamilton made the first basket of the game for UCLA and his 3-pointer later in the half sparked a 14-0 run that gave UCLA the lead for good at 24-13.

Later in the half he produced a 3-pointer and a three-point play on back-to-back possessions to expand the lead to 20. He hit two more 3s on consecutive trips down the floor in the opening 90 seconds of the second half to push the lead back to 20 and the advantage continued to swell.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Kevon Looney, the third-leading scorer and top rebounder for the Bruins, suffered a facial injury in the first half and was taken to an area hospital for a CT scan. … Alford shot 2-for-4 from 3-point range and is 16-of-27 from beyond the arc in five career games against the Trojans. … UCLA has won six of its last seven Pac-12 tournament games.
Top Game Performances
 
Southern California   UCLA
Katin Reinhardt 20 Scoring Isaac Hamilton 36
Julian Jacobs 7 Assists Bryce Alford 7
Nikola Jovanovic 6 Rebounds Bryce Alford 7
Nikola Jovanovic 3 Free Throws Made Isaac Hamilton 3
Elijah Stewart 3 Steals Norman Powell 3
Malik Martin 2 Blocks Noah Allen 1
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Southern California 70 44.1 8-22 10-18 12 27 3 6 17
UCLA 96 60.3 12-20 8-10 19 29 2 11 13