USC upsets Arizona in storybook game
Feb 25, 2011, 6:14 AM | Updated: 6:18 am
The three that got away are back in Los Angeles. Kevin O’Neill faces an Arizona team he was supposed to inherit, a place he left under unpleasant circumstances.
If those storylines weren’t enough, throw in an amazing game and it was a story not even Tinseltown could create.
The USC Trojans pulled out the 65-57 upset of the tenth-ranked Arizona Wildcats behind a huge night from Nikola Vucevic and Jio Fontain at the Galen Center in Los Angeles Thursday night.
Vucevic and Fontain combined for 44 points and Vucevic added 11 rebounds.
The Wildcats’ had their 8-game win streak snapped as Jesse Perry had 12 points and Kevin Parrom added 10 in a losing effort.
Derrick Williams, Solomon Hill and Lamont Jones combined for only 20 points as they returned to the school to which they had first committed. Williams added 10 rebounds and only attempted two free throws, almost 7 off of his average.
Arizona took a 28-25 lead into the half but USC used a 13-2 run extending from the first half, finally taking a 29-28 lead with less than a minute and a half gone in the second half.
The Wildcats will travel across town to Pauley Pavillion on Saturday afternoon where they will attempt to lock-up at least a share of the Pac-10 title against second place UCLA, who remained two games back with a victory over cellar-dweller ASU Thursday night.
