USC Basketball: Cardinal leads Trojans, 31-28, at halftime

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USC has lost seven straight games at Maples Pavilion.

Is (un)lucky No.8 coming tonight? If Dwight Lewis can help it, no. If no one on USC can help Lewis, yes.

Lewis had 13 first-half points to help USC cut a double-digit deficit against Stanford, which leads USC, 31-28, at halftime.

Lewis was five of eight from the floor in the first half, including three of four from the three-point line.

Alex Stepheson has nine points for USC. No other Trojan has more than two.

It probably doesn’t help USC that this is its first game since the school’s self-imposed sanctions on the basketball program were announced.

It also probably doesn’t help that Stanford has two of the Pacific 10 Conference’s best players: Landry Fields and Jeremy Green.

Fields, who is averaging 23.2 points, has 12 at halftime. Green, who is averaging 16.7, has seven. USC has been trying to deny the ball to those two, without much success.

Turnovers have been a season-long issue for the Trojans; they average almost 15. USC has seven, but Stanford has scored eight points off those turnovers.

-- Baxter Holmes