No. 8 USC basketball wins Bahamas tournament opener over Seton Hall
NASSAU, Bahamas — JuJu Watkins scored 15 points, Rayah Marshall had a strong double-double and No. 8 USC held off Seton Hall 64-54 at the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo Championship on Monday night.
Marshall had 14 points and 14 rebounds for USC (4-0) and Watkins, a freshman, added seven rebounds. Kaitlyn Davis scored 13 points and McKenzie Forbes had 12.
USC built an 18-3 lead through the first 8 1/2 minutes of play and took a 23-7 lead into the second quarter. The Pirates cut it to single digits at 24-16 but went scoreless over the final four minutes of the period.
USC is pushing to make a deep NCAA tournament run, building on last season’s success with the help of star freshman JuJu Watkins and other newcomers.
USC extended its 38-23 halftime lead to 56-36 through the third quarter, then struggled to score in the fourth. Makennah White had six points and Micah Gray hit a three-pointer in a 13-4 run that got Seton Hall to within 60-49 with three minutes remaining. Marshall scored in the paint and the Trojans added a couple of free throws to close out the win despite being outscored 18-8 in the fourth.
Azana Baines scored 16 points and Gray had 14 for the Pirates (3-2).
USC celebrated a victory on a big day for the Pac-12, which placed five teams in the top 10 of the Associated Press Top 25 poll. They are No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Colorado, No. 4 Stanford, USC at No. 8, and No. 10 Utah. Washington State is 23rd, for good measure.
The tournament resumes Wednesday. USC will play Penn State.
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