Trojans keep Huskies reeling

LOS ANGELES – Nikola Jovanovic scored 15 of his 16 points in the second half and last-place Southern California defeated short-handed Washington 70-55 Saturday night in a matchup of the worst teams in the Pac-12.

Elijah Stewart added 14 points and nine rebounds for the Trojans, who snapped a three-game skid while winning one more league game than they did last season. Katin Reinhardt had 11 points and Julian Jacobs had eight points, 10 rebounds and nine assists.

Andrew Andrews scored 19 points and Quevyn Winters added a career-high 16 points and equaled his career best with four 3-pointers off the bench for the Huskies, who are 1-9 in their last 10 games.

Washington played without injured starters Nigel Williams-Goss and Shawn Kemp Jr. Williams-Goss, the Huskies’ scoring leader at 15.4 points and the Pac-12 assist leader at 6.1, twisted his ankle in a loss to UCLA three days earlier. Kemp has been out with a concussion.

USC took command with an 18-7 run to open the second half. Jovanovic scored the Trojans’ first eight points, capped by a fast break dunk. He added another basket, and they got 3-pointers from Malik Marquetti and Stewart, extending their lead to 45-29.

The Huskies used 3-point shooting to close within nine, getting two straight long-range baskets from Winters and another by Andrews to trail 49-40. They never got within single digits the rest of the way.

With one game left in the regular season, the Trojans have a slim chance of climbing out of last place if they can beat UCLA next week and get some help from 11th-place Washington, which has two games left. USC had lost 12 of its previous 13 before gaining the weekend split.

Neither team shot better than 31 percent in the first half, when the Trojans led by 12. They raced to a 14-2 lead to start the game as the Huskies missed their first nine shots.

Winters sparked Washington, scoring 10 points in a 20-7 run that gave the Huskies their only lead of the half, 22-21. Winters opened and closed his burst with 3-pointers and Andrews added another one.

The Trojans scored the final six points of the half to lead 27-22 at the break.

Notes

Washington’s Darin Johnson made his first start of the season in place of Williams-Goss. … The Huskies made their first visit to USC since the 2012-13 season. … They have two home games left in the regular season, against Colorado on Thursday and Utah on Saturday. … The Trojans had lost two straight to the Huskies. … USC ends the regular season next week against crosstown rival UCLA.