Stewart’s Redemption Shot Wins It for USC

Things couldn’t have gone much worse for Lodrick Stewart during the first 39 minutes 58 seconds Thursday night at Wells Fargo Arena.

The USC junior guard rolled his right ankle in the opening minutes, looked tentative while missing his first four shots and committed the foul that allowed Arizona State to take a two-point lead into the final seconds after the Sun Devils converted a pair of free throws.

None of that matters now.

Stewart’s defining moment came when he took a pass from freshman guard Ryan Francis on the wing and made a three-pointer with 2.1 seconds left to cap the Trojans’ wild 66-65 come-from-behind victory.

“When I got the block at the end and they called a foul I was like, ‘Oh, man, I’m going to lose the game like that,’ ” said Stewart, who had not even attempted a shot in the second half before his winner. “[But] I kept my head up and then they gave me an opportunity to redeem myself and get the last shot.”

Stewart, who finished with three points, was the unlikeliest of heroes. He was in such pain after his first-half injury that he considered asking Coach Tim Floyd to take him out of the game, and it became apparent in the second half as the agony worsened that he wasn’t looking for his shot.

Stewart left most of the shooting to sophomore guard Gabe Pruitt, who made 11 of 18 shots, including five of 11 from behind the three-point arc, to finish with 30 points for the Trojans, who improved to 11-3 overall and 2-1 in Pacific 10 Conference play.

Pruitt’s three-pointer from the wing with 1:43 remaining trimmed what had been a nine-point deficit to three, and a stifling Trojan defense forced Arizona State forward Serge Angounou to force a turnaround jumper that missed as the shot clock expired.

USC sophomore swingman Nick Young, who had 24 points, made a three-pointer with 48 seconds left to make it 63-63, but Stewart was called for a foul when he tried to block Bryson Krueger’s jumper.

The Sun Devil guard made both free throws with 27 seconds left, and shortly after that Floyd called a timeout to set up a play for Young or Stewart. When neither was open, Pruitt hoisted a three-pointer from the wing that clanked off the side of the rim.

Francis, at 5-11 the smallest player on the court, got the rebound and dribbled once and fed Stewart for the winner.

“He’s smart,” Floyd said of Francis. “He understood the situation and kicked, and that’s normally when your best looks come is after offensive boards.”

Arizona State (6-6, 0-3) made 51.1% of its shots, a season high for a Trojan opponent.

Stewart, who had scored at least 16 points in each of his previous six games, remained active on defense despite his injury but couldn’t get into the flow on the other end of the court.

“I didn’t think I was really helping them that much on offense because of my ankle, but they kept talking me through the game and I hit the winning shot,” he said.

Stewart’s teammates had little doubt that his last shot would lift them to their third road victory, one more than the team had all of last year.

“Even though he had a bad shooting day, I always feel when Lod shoots it’s going to go in,” Pruitt said. “I knew he had the open look and when I saw it leave his hand I knew it was going to go in because he’s a great shooter.”