LOS ANGELES (AP) — Chad Baker-Mazara scored scored a career-high 34 points and Jordan Marsh hit a contested 3-pointer at the buzzer to lift USC to a 107-106 win over Troy on Thursday night.
Troy, coming off a 108-107 double-overtime win at San Diego State on Tuesday, led throughout the third overtime but threw the ball away into the front court after rebounding Baker-Mazara’s missed drive with about 10 seconds to go. Rodney Rice got the loose ball and fired it ahead to Marsh, who took a couple of dribbles and hit from almost straightaway.
Rice had 26 points and nine assists for USC (4-0) and Ezra Ausar 22 points, which was outrebounded 63-39, including 25-7 on the offensive end..
Cooper Campbell had a career-high 32 points, 10 in the third overtime, for Troy (4-3), including a pair of his career-high six 3-pointers to start the final overtime, plus 12 rebounds and eight assists. Victor Valdes had 24 points, Theo Send 20 and Thomas Dowd 19 with 12 rebounds.
Campbell forced overtime with a 3-pointer from the right wing a couple steps behind the line with 7.8 seconds to play, tying the game at 68. Rice’s turn-around jumper from the foul line bounced off the rim as time ran out.
It was the same in overtime, but Seng made a pair of layups with less than 20 seconds to go, tying the game at 78. A long heave wasn’t close for USC.
Troy got its first lead since late in the first half when Seng opened the second overtime with a basket. Baker-Mazara scored eight points and USC was up two when Dowd put up a contested shot in the lane to tie it at 89 with 22.1 seconds to go. Baker-Mazara failed to convert a drive as time ran out.
Both teams struggled on offense in the first half, which finished tied at 29. Neither team led by more than five and there were 15 lead changes.
Up next
Troy plays Toledo on Monday in Ft. Myers, Florida, in the Coconut Hoops multi-team tournament.
USC plays Boise State on Monday in the Maui Invitational.
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