Rodney Rice scored a game-high 27 points, including a tiebreaking three-point play, as Southern California defeated Boise State 70-67 in the quarterfinals of the Maui Invitational on Monday in Lahaina, Hawaii.
Chad Baker-Mazara added 11 points and a game-high eight rebounds for the Trojans (5-0), who will meet Seton Hall — which upset No. 23 North Carolina State 85-74 in the tournament opener — in the semifinals on Tuesday.
Javan Buchanan scored 18 for Boise State (4-2), but his potential tying 3-pointer at the final buzzer bounced off the front of the rim. Pearson Carmichael added 14 points and seven rebounds for the Broncos and Aginaldo Neto scored 10.
Rice made a floating jump shot in the lane to break a tie and was fouled with 14.8 seconds remaining. He converted the free throw to put USC up 68-65.
Boise State’s Andrew Meadow came up short on a 3-pointer with eight seconds left and the ball went out of bounds. But Rice was called for an offensive foul on the inbounds pass and the ball went back to Boise State with six seconds to go.
Rice committed another foul before the Broncos could inbound the ball, with Neto making both free throws to make it a one-point game.
Jordan Marsh made two free throws with 4.2 seconds left to extend USC’s lead to 70-67.
Baker-Mazara and Rice made 3-pointers as USC took a 43-37 lead early in the second half. The Broncos responded as Buchanan converted a three-point play and then made a 3-pointer to tie it at 43-all with 15:44 remaining.
The lead went back and forth for the next 13 minutes until the Trojans’ Jacob Cofie made a 3-pointer with 2:38 to go to put his team up 61-59.
Two free throws by Baker-Mazara gave the Trojans a four-point lead before Neto made a step-back 3-pointer to trim it to 63-62 with 1:41 left.
Ezra Ausar’s jumper with 1:10 remaining put the Trojans back up three. Buchanan made a jumper in the lane and was fouled, and the free throw tied the game with 38.7 seconds to go.
Rice scored 14 points in the first half as the Trojans took a 34-32 lead. USC made five 3-pointers in the half while the Broncos went 1 for 12. The Trojans finished the game at 11-for-23 shooting from distance compared to Boise State’s 5-for-25 day.
–Field Level Media
