Freshmen hold court in USC win

CULIACAN, Mexico -- They took a 2 1/2 -hour flight, then drove nearly three hours . . . to play one exhibition game.

But the drive time freshmen O.J. Mayo and Davon Jefferson found on the court in their first appearance in a USC uniform proved to be worth the lengthy excursion.

There was Mayo, stripping the ball from his opponent and streaking toward the basket for a one-handed tomahawk jam.

There was Jefferson, taking a feed from Mayo and laying the ball softly in the basket while drawing a foul.

And there was Mayo again, rising high above the rim to stuff the ball into the basket following a Jefferson miss, prompting an audible “ooh” from the crowd.

The freshman tandem was seemingly everywhere Saturday night, leading the Trojans to a 102-82 come-from-behind victory over Caballeros de Sinaloa before about 250 at the University of Sinaloa gym.

Mayo and Jefferson scored 29 points apiece for USC, which had trailed by as many as 10 points in the second quarter and still found itself down by seven early in the second half before wearing down its opponent.

“The first half, our legs were kind of dead from a long plane flight and two-hour drive over here,” Mayo said. “But we turned it around.”

The Trojans were initially scheduled to play four games in two days but instead will return to Los Angeles on Monday having played only once. Coach Tim Floyd said Caballeros players were too tired to play a second game Saturday, and the games planned for today in Mazatlan were canceled because of a flooded gym.

Floyd said he wasn’t disappointed that his team had ventured so far for only one game.

“It really wasn’t about the competition,” he said. “We kind of got a feel for who our guys are now.”

The Trojans played Saturday using international rules, which included four 10-minute quarters and a 24-second shot clock -- in theory. The clock above USC’s goal was inoperable for part of the first half.

The small but appreciative crowd warmly received the Trojans before turning its allegiance to the hometown Caballeros, members of Mexico’s Professional National Basketball League.

Floyd watched the game from the stands, leaving the coaching to his assistants. They didn’t like what they saw early, when Caballeros bolted to an early lead behind a seemingly endless flurry of open three-pointers.

USC made its push in the second half by ratcheting up their defensive intensity and converting open shots. They took their first lead of the game with 3 minutes 8 seconds left in the third quarter when junior forward Keith Wilkinson fed Jefferson for a dunk to make it 70-69.

The Trojans won easily even without sophomore guards Daniel Hackett and Dwight Lewis, two potential starters who remained in Los Angeles. Lewis was experiencing flu-like symptoms and Hackett was resting after spending much of the summer playing with the under-20 Italian national team.

Mayo posed for pictures after the game and signed autographs before boarding the team bus for another three-hour ride back to the team hotel in Mazatlan.

“There’s a lot of talent on this team,” sophomore forward Taj Gibson said. “I knew coming out here we were going to be fine.”

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ben.bolch@latimes.com