It’s Moody blues for Trojans
They blow a halftime lead as Mustangs rally at home to avenge a March Madness loss.
DALLAS — Ben Emelogu had 11 of his 16 points in a big go-ahead run after halftime and SMU got some measure of revenge with a 72-55 victory over No. 14 USC on Saturday night.
Shake Milton added 22 points for the Mustangs (7-2), who stretched their home winning streak to 28. Jimmy Whitt had 14 points and Jarrey Foster 13.
Chimezie Metu had 13 points to lead USC, which had won its previous seven non-conference road games.
It was the third meeting in 13 months between the teams. The Trojans (4-2) won both games last year, including a home game in November 2016 and then again in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last March.
The Mustangs are 31-0 at home under coach Tim Jankovich, including three games when he filled in for Larry Brown when he was still an associate head coach.
SMU was down 37-33 before Emelogu hit a threepointer that ignited a 23-5 run. The Mustangs went ahead to stay after Milton’s two free throws with 15:31 left made it 38-37. Emelogu had three three-pointers and a dunk in the stretch.
After Metu’s dunk with just over seven minutes left in the first half put the Trojans up 25-17, they went nearly five minutes without scoring until Metu’s jumper with 2:14 left — and they still led 27-24. USC was up 30-27 at the half after a late threepointer by Jonah Mathews.
Big picture
USC: A tough week for the Trojans, who were 4-0 before losing consecutive games to teams from the Lone Star State. USC was coming off a 75-59 home loss last Sunday to Texas A&M, which took over that game with a 19-3 run in the second half. USC again struggled shooting, especially after halftime when making only eight of 22 shots against SMU.
SMU: The high-energy Mustangs thrive in Moody Coliseum, where one of the regular attenders is former President George W. Bush, who was sitting courtside again Saturday night. SMU is 46-7 under Jankovich.
UP NEXT
VS. OKLAHOMA When: Friday, 7:30 p.m. Where: Galen Center On the air: TV: ESPN2; radio: 710 Update: The Sooners defeated Oregon, the only Pac-12 team they have faced this season, 90-80.