Stanford sweeps USC

STANFORD, Calif. – Chasson Randle scored 18 points to lead Stanford to its fourth win in five games and a season sweep against Southern California with an 80-59 victory on Thursday night.

Dwight Powell added 14 points and Josh Huestis had 11 points and a career-high 18 rebounds for the Cardinal (17-8, 8-5 Pac-12), who head into Saturday night’s showdown against No. 23 UCLA on a roll.

Pe’Shon Howard scored 13 and Julian Jacobs added 11 for the Trojans (10-16, 1-12), who have lost seven straight games under first-year coach Andy Enfield.

To make matters worse for USC, the Trojans were without leading scorer Byron Wesley, who will miss both games in the Bay Area this weekend for a violation of team rules. Wesley is averaging 17.6 points per game and had scored 110 points in USC’s previous five games.

With Wesley back home, Stanford overcame a slow start to race past the Trojans in the second half after needing overtime to win at USC last month.

Powell’s jumper extended the lead to 59-42 just past the midpoint of the half and Anthony Brown’s fast break dunk for a three-point play made it a 22-point game as the Cardinal coasted to the end.

Powell left briefly in the opening half to get stitches in his head after colliding with USC’s Strahinja Gavrilovic. Powell returned with a white wrap around his head and a new No. 32 to replace his bloodied No. 33 and made his first shot after coming back.