Southern California Trojans vs Arizona Wildcats Box Score on Jan 07, 2021

Evan Mobley had a double-double, Isaiah White scored 22 points and Southern California used strong perimeter defense in an 87-73 Pac-12 Conference victory over Arizona on Thursday night at Tucson, Ariz.

Drew Peterson flirted with a triple-double, compiling seven points, eight rebounds and 10 assists for USC (7-2, 2-1 Pac-12), which snapped a four-game winning streak for the Wildcats (9-2, 3-2). Mobley, a 7-footer, finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds, his third double-double of the season.

Another freshman almost stole the show, though. Arizona's Azuolas Tubelis poured in 31 points on 11-of-16 shooting to go with eight rebounds, but he didn't have much help. His teammates were a combined 14 of 46 from the field.

White, who transferred from Utah Valley after last season, scored his career-best as a Trojan.

Peterson, and USC's overall length at every position, made life difficult for the Wildcats' starting guards. James Akinjo and Jemarl Baker Jr., who had combined for nearly 28 points per game, shot 1 of 15 from the field and finished with a total of three points.

USC was up 35-34 at halftime before each team came out hot after the break, matching baskets in fast-paced action. Neither team led by more than three points until USC's Noah Baumann made a 3-pointer at the 12:32 mark for a 57-53 lead.

The Trojans pushed their lead to 68-58 with 9:13 to go on back-to-back dunks by Mobley and White. Arizona battled back to within four points on three occasions after that -- the latest with 6:39 to go -- but the Trojans stayed too hot for the Wildcats to catch up.

USC shot 75 percent in the second half (21 of 28).

Tubelis, whose previous scoring best was 13 points, scored Arizona's first seven points, and then his teammates jumped in and put together an 8-0 run for a 15-6 lead. USC quickly erased that with an 18-5 run in about four minutes to go up 25-20 with 8:07 left in the first half.

The game stayed tight the rest of the half, with USC heading into the break with their one-point lead, despite Arizona getting 17 points from Tubelis on 7 of 10 shooting.

--Field Level Media