USC Has a Reason to Smile : College basketball: Freshmen Jones and Boseman spark a 68-56 victory over Arizona State.

USC freshman Avondre Jones tried his best to keep cool while answering questions from reporters after the Trojans’ 68-56 victory over Arizona State on Saturday.

That was until fellow freshman Stais Boseman asked from across the locker room if he could get an autograph from Jones, who responded with a smile he and Boseman have waited all season to show.

“It’s about time,” said Boseman, who joined Jones off the bench to give USC a defensive boost in easily their best performance of the season. “It feels good to finally play well together like this.”

Which is exactly how USC Coach George Raveling felt after watching the Trojans bounce back from a 34-point loss at Arizona on Thursday to play their most complete game of the season and win their first road game in more than a month.

The Trojans, whose last road victory came at Washington on Jan. 13, played like a different team than the lethargic version that lost to Arizona two days earlier.

From point guard Burt Harris’ driving layup that gave USC a 2-0 lead to open the game, the Trojans displayed a fight that was missing in losing eight of their last nine games before Saturday.

One big reason for the new look was Jones, a 6-foot-11 center, who entered the game averaging only 3.4 points and 2.6 rebounds. He scored 11 points and grabbed four rebounds as the Trojans took a 30-22 first-half lead.

“Vonnie continues to grow and show the vast potential that he has,” Raveling said. “He’s a lot more focused now than he was early in the season. He’s not fighting himself mentally like he was.”

Another key to USC’s fast start was the pressure defense on Arizona State’s Stevin Smith, who scored 35 points in the Sun Devils’ 87-62 victory over USC last month.

With Harris and Boseman forcing him to go inside, Smith scored only six points in the first half.

“The last time we played, (Smith) played out of his mind,” said Harris, who led USC with 17 points despite playing with foul trouble for most of the game.

“We did a good job on him this game in not really allowing him many open shots and forcing him to dribble. But you really can’t stop a player like that. You can only slow him down some.”

Which proved true early in the second half, when Smith, who finished with 22 points, made two consecutive three pointers to cut USC’s lead to 35-34.

The Trojans, who blew early leads in losing their last two games, responded with six points each by Harris and Lorenzo Orr and outscored Arizona State, 21-4, over the next eight minutes to take a 56-38 lead with 6:58 remaining.

The Sun Devils then made their last push of the game with Smith scoring seven points to cut USC’s lead to 60-53, but the Trojans answered with big defensive plays from Boseman, Jones and backup point guard Damaine Powell, who scored five points and made a steal down the stretch.

Junior forward Tremayne Anchrum added 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds for USC, which improved to 12-10 overall and 5-8 in the Pac-10.

Jones finished with a career-high 13 points and seven rebounds and made a huge impact defensively by altering many of the shots by the Sun Devils (12-10, 7-6), while Boseman forced four turnovers and had two steals.

“We know that we both have a long way to go, but we also realize that we have the physical tools,” Boseman said. “We just have to get the mental part down.”