LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Nick Young joined teammate Lodrick Stewart as
the newest member of USC's 1,000-points club.
Young and Stewart scored 17 points apiece to lead USC to an
83-53 victory over Longwood on Tuesday night.
Young became the 31st Trojan to score at least 1,000 career
points. Stewart, who scored his 1,000th point on Nov. 24, passed
Jeff Trepagnier to reach 20th place on the school's all-time
scoring list with 1,132 points.
"I thought I was far away from it," said Young, a junior. "I
thought you had to be a senior like Lodrick Stewart to do something
like that."
Both Young and Stewart reached the milestone while being forced
to learn new positions this season.
"We lost our backcourt," USC coach Tim Floyd said, referring
to Gabe Pruitt's academic ineligibility and the murder of Ryan
Francis. "Nick was playing at the power forward position and
Lodrick was playing the small forward position.
"They both are playing on the perimeter right now. They both
have had more ball-handling duties and have had to carry some
leadership and show an example in practice. For the most part,
they've done a very good job."
Freshman Taj Gibson added 10 points and 10 rebounds for his
sixth double-double of the season as the Trojans (9-2) won their
fourth consecutive game.
It was the eight straight home victory for USC, which hasn't
lost at the new Galen Center since a season-opening overtime defeat
to South Carolina.
Maurice Sumter scored 15 points for the Lancers (3-10), who shot
a season-low 29.4 percent and lost their seventh straight game.
"This is by far the toughest schedule we've played since I came
to Longwood," Lancers coach Mike Gillian said. "We've come such a
long way and we've shown the ability to compete with good teams."
The Trojans, who lead the nation in field-goal percentage
defense, held an opponent to less than 40 percent for the 10th time
this season.
USC shot 73 percent in the first half and led by as many as 34
points in the second half.
The game was the Trojans' second in the Las Vegas Classic, which
will shift to Las Vegas on Friday after opening at the teams' home
arenas.