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USC Overcomes Early Deficit, Cruises Past Cornell

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Chimezie Metu scored 17 points and Jordan McLaughlin had 16 points and nine assists to help No. 23 Southern California stay unbeaten with a 79-67 victory over Cornell on Monday night.

After getting off to a slow start, the Trojans (11-0) overcame an early 10-point deficit. They took the lead late in the first half and never trailed after halftime.

Southern California had a commanding height advantage and outrebounded Cornell 43-28.

Playing its seventh road game of the season, Cornell (2-7) still gave USC a tougher time than expected. Stone Gettings scored 22 points for the Big Red, Rob Hatter had 20 and Matt Morgan added 15.

USC looked like a team taking the Big Red lightly in the early going. With the Trojans hitting just one of their first eight shots, Cornell jumped out to a 16-6 lead behind a trio of 3-pointers from Gettings, a local product from Los Angeles Loyola High School.

Cornell was still up by nine with less than 8 minutes to play in the first half when USC started its comeback. Elijah Stewart, the Trojans' leading scorer, missed his first five shots but hit a 3 in the last minute to give USC a 37-34 lead at the break.

Metu had 11 points at halftime.

(© Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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