free throw

LAHAINA, Hawaii — Ezra Ausar and Chad Baker-Mazara combined for 31 of USC’s second-half points to rally the Trojans to an 83-81 victory over Seton Hall on Tuesday after losing leading scorer Rodney Rice to an injury in a Maui Invitational semifinal.

Ausur finished with a season-high 25 points, hitting 15 of 19 free throws, and Baker-Mazara scored 18 for the Trojans (6-0).

Adam Clark scored 18 points, AJ Staton-McCray 17, Mike Williams III 13 and Elijah Fisher 10 for the Pirates (6-1).

Rice brought the Trojans back from a 13-point deficit to get them within four at halftime, scoring 13 points, but left early in the second half with an apparent upper arm/shoulder injury and trailing 46-44. Baker-Mazara stepped up, scoring 12 points over the next five minutes with his 3 finishing a 10-0 run and putting the Trojans ahead 63-57 with 12 minutes to go.

Staton-McCray tied the game on a three-pointer with a minute to go but Baker-Mazara put the Trojans up for good with two free throws with 27.4 seconds left. The teams traded three free throws with Jordan Marsh’s pair sealing it with 1.4 remaining.

Seton Hall turned 10 turnovers, including eight steals, to build a first-half lead. Rice scored 13 straight points, including a trio of threes, to kick off a 17-8 run with Jerry Easter II finishing it with a floater at the buzzer to trail 42-38.

LAHAINA, Hawaii — Rodney Rice scored a season-high 27 points and Chad Baker-Mazara had 11 points and eight rebounds as USC beat Boise State 70-67 on Monday in the Southwest Maui Invitational.

USC (5-0) will play on Tuesday against Seton Hall, which beat North Carolina State earlier.

Rice split two defenders at the top of the key to get into the paint for a runner while being fouled with 14.8 seconds left in the game. He made the basket and free throw to give USC the lead at 68-65.

After the teams traded free throws, Boise State inbounded it with 4.2 seconds left and quickly got down the court for Javan Buchanan’s good look from three-point range that came up just short at the buzzer.

Rice made four of USC’s 11 three-pointers, while Boise State went five for 25.

Buchanan led Boise State (4-2) with 18 points. Pearson Carmichael added 14 points and Aginaldo Neto 10.

Boise State trailed for 25-plus minutes, with its last lead at 59-58 at 2:57.

PHILADELPHIA — Tyrese Maxey scored 39 points, Paul George had nine points and seven rebounds in his season debut, and the Philadelphia 76ers rallied for a 110-108 victory over the short-handed Clippers on Monday night.

Quentin Grimes added 19 points and Andre Drummond had 14 points and 18 rebounds while filling in for Joel Embiid.

James Harden scored 28 points for the Clippers, who have lost eight of nine. Harden became the 11th player to eclipse 28,000 career points with a first-quarter layup.

Derrick Jones Jr. sat out after injuring his knee in Sunday’s 121-118 loss at Boston. The Clippers also were without Kawhi Leonard (ankle/foot sprain) for the seventh straight game.

Embiid (right knee injury management) sat out for the third straight game and eighth of 13 this season.

The Clippers controlled the first 3½ quarters and led 91-81 with 8:44 left on Ivica Zubac’s 10-footer. But Philadelphia used a 14-3 run over the next 2:49, capped by Maxey’s layup, to go in front 95-94. It was close from that point.

Drummond made two free throws to put the 76ers ahead 110-106 with 1:08 left. Kobe Sanders made a pair of free throws with 13.8 seconds left to pull the Clippers within two before officials whistled Kris Dunn for a foul on Maxey. But that was overturned to a steal by Dunn after a challenge by the Clippers, giving L.A. a chance to tie or win.

Harden misfired on two three-point attempts in the final seconds.

In addition to Embiid, the 76ers were missing Kelly Oubre Jr. (left knee sprain) and Adem Bona (right ankle sprain).

George sat out the first 12 games while recovering from offseason left knee surgery. The nine-time All-Star played 21 minutes.

Up next for Clippers: At Orlando on Thursday night.

Chad Baker-Mazara scored 20 of his career-high 26 points in the first half to lead seven USC players in double figures and start the Trojans off and running to a 114-83 victory over Manhattan on Sunday.

Baker-Mazara made seven of 13 shots, including three of four from three-point range, and all nine of his free throws to help the Trojans (2-0) score more points than they’ve had since 1998. He added seven rebounds.

Ezra Ausar scored 17 points on seven-for-10 shooting for USC and Rodney Rice pitched in with 14 points, six rebounds and four assists. Jacob Cofie totaled 10 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, while Terrence Williams II added 10 points and seven boards. Reserves Jaden Brownell and Jordan Marsh scored 13 and 11, respectively.

USC jumped out to a 7-2 lead before Anthony Isaac’s layup capped a 5-0 spurt for Manhattan to tie it. From there neither team had a two-possession lead until Baker-Mazara hit a three-pointer to put USC up 28-23 with 7:48 left before halftime. The Trojans sank four of their next five shots to push their advantage to double digits and upped it to 55-37 at the break.

USC led by as many as 35 in the second half and topped the century mark on a layup by Brownell with 6:16 left to play.

Junior guard Jaden Winston scored a career-high 29 to pace the Jaspers (1-1). The fifth-year senior guard made nine of 14 shots with three three-pointers while making all eight of his free throws. Terrance Jones had 18 points and fellow reserve Isaac scored 16.

Marcus Smart couldn’t believe the stat line. Five steals and two blocks for who?

“Lukaaaaa,” Smart said, elongating Luka Doncic’s name while smiling toward his star teammate who was sitting with his feet in an ice bucket with ice bags wrapped around his knees.

Doncic matched his career high for steals in a regular-season game Wednesday. The guard averaging 40 points per game claimed his defense was the only thing he did well on a night when he finished one rebound short of a triple-double. While collecting 35 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds, he was an inefficient nine-for-27 from the field and four-for-11 from three. He missed four free throws, turned the ball over four times and, after picking up his fifth foul with 7:58 remaining in the fourth, nearly fouled out.

The last fact took Rui Hachimura by surprise.

“I’ve never seen him like that,” Hachimura said. “But you know, he’s trying to be more aggressive [on defense] and that’s what we need from him, too.”

Redick said Doncic had a few games when he started slow defensively in terms of physicality and engagement, but has been overall “really good” this season. Even when he was switched on to Spurs star Victor Wembanyama or point guard Stephon Castle, Doncic still competed well.

“There wasn’t matador defense,” Redick said. “He still guarded. And that was huge. The reason we won the game is because we guarded in the fourth quarter. Our fourth-quarter defense was the No. 1 reason we won the game.”

The Lakers limited the Spurs to 36.8% shooting from the field during the fourth quarter while forcing six turnovers. Wembanyama was held to 19 points on labored five-for-14 shooting with eight rebounds. He was nine-for-11 on free throws and fouled out with 1:40 remaining when he bowled over Hachimura.