USC's Fight Not Enough For CAL Bears

LOS ANGELES - USC Trojans were looking for only their second Pac 12 win against a very sharp and second place CAL Golden Bears team. Thursday nights game would either gain USC another victory and confidence of beating a contender, or give CAL a much needed boost to top supremacy in the Pac 12.

CAL’s super sophomore Allen Crabbe came out aggressive in the first half, hitting his first five shots, setting the tone early for his team. However USC’s star guard Maurice Jones made sure the Trojans had enough fight to hang in the game with CAL. CAL’s lead was never more than four points, and at one time USC even lead by a basket, thanks to the key shooting of Jones. At half time CAL led USC 35-29. Maurice Jones had 11 points on a perfect 5-5 shooting, while CAL’s Allen Crabbe also had 11 points.

In the second half unfortunately USC came out flat, and CAL began to pull away thanks to the hot hand of CAL’s Harper Kamp who was 9-11 shooting, and scored 18 points. Freshman forward David Kravish who out hustled the Trojans on the boards came up big with 18 rebounds on the night. Crabbe continued to set plays and ended up scoring 19 points, 4 rebounds on 8-12 shooting in front of his hometown family and friends. 

Despite the the great court vision and spectacular play Maurice Jones, who finished up with 17 points on 8-13 shooting, along with Trojans guard Byron Wesley who finished with 11 points were no match for CAL. The Trojans fell to the Golden Bears 75-49, which drops them to 1-11 in Pac 12 Conference play.

After the loss USC Head Coach Kevin O’Neil talked about CAL’s game changers “Those guys are more experienced and better than us on the front line.”   He also added this about his Trojans team “When Mo's not in there, we don't function very well. Not that we function at a high level when he is in there."

“You can't really blame them, they're all new to this" USC guard Maurice Jones speaking on his current teammates. “We have seven guys in black suits, its a another team out there.” Despite the frustration, and several injuries to his five teammates, he still is able to put it in perspective, yet he isn’t making or taking excuses for his team’s performance.

Jones has logged in heavy minutes for USC, and has truly put his blood, sweat & tears into this team. He is the true definition of USC’s moniker Fight On.

One bright spot in USC’s defense was the how they neutralized CAL guard Jorge Gutierrez, who was held to 4 points total in the game.

CAL Head Coach Montgomery shared his thoughts about difference his team played in the 2nd half "They just played hard, despite their record. I think Kevin has done a good job over there, just getting his team ready. They [USC] were a good defensive team, and 2nd half we had to be better. Grabbing rebounds, loose balls, just better offensively."

Next up for USC a visit from the Stanford Cardinal, who can be hopeful because USC has won its last six home games vs. Stanford.

*CAL’s Harper Kamp was just 1 point shy of making CAL’s list of 1,000 point players. Kamp will be the 41st player to make that achievement.