Southern Utah Thunderbirds vs Southern California Trojans Box Score on Dec 21, 2018

Junior forward Nick Rakocevic scored 21 points and senior forward Bennie Boatwright added 18 points and 10 rebounds as Southern California ended its four-game losing streak with a 91-49 nonconference victory Friday over Southern Utah in Los Angeles.

Coach Andy Enfield picked up his 100th victory in six seasons with the Trojans. USC is just 6-6 this season after posting 71 victories for Enfield over the past three seasons.

Junior forward Andre Adams scored 13 points for Southern Utah (5-4), which has lost three of its past four games, with those three defeats all coming in road games.

Boatwright recorded his first double-double of the season and the sixth of his career.

Rakocevic's performance came one game after he managed just eight points Tuesday at Santa Clara and fouled out with over six minutes remaining in regulation of the Trojans' eventual 102-92, double-overtime defeat.

On Friday, USC went on an early 15-4 run to take a 19-8 lead and remained in control from there. Southern Utah cut the Trojans' lead to seven points but got no closer than that the rest of the way.

The Trojans held a 39-25 lead at halftime, having shot 16 of 33 (48.5 percent) from the field, although they were just 2 of 9 (22.2 percent) from 3-point range.

For the game, USC outshot Southern Utah 53.7 percent to 34 percent from the floor.

Junior guard Jonah Mathews had 14 points for USC, which had a 52-22 advantage on points in the paint in the first meeting between the schools.

Senior Brandon Better scored 12 points for the Thunderbirds, who were just 6 of 21 (28.6 percent) from 3-point range and 7 of 17 (41.2 percent) from the free-throw line. Southern Utah got just seven points from its bench.

The Trojans will take an eight-day Christmas break before facing UC Davis in their last nonconference game on Dec. 30 before Pac-12 Conference play begins Jan. 3 at home against Cal.

Southern Utah finished its nonconference schedule and will open Big Sky Conference play on Dec. 29 at home against Montana State.

--Field Level Media