Cal State Northridge CS-N'ridge/USC USC Men's College Basketball recap on ESPN

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A noisy halftime talk by coach Henry Bibby brought out the kind of defense Southern California (No. 15 ESPN/USA Today, No. 12 AP) forgot in the first 20 minutes.

David Bluthenthal scored 11 of his career-high 29 points over the final 7:56 as the Trojans held off scrappy Cal State Northridge 99-90 Tuesday night.

"We knew we had to win," Bluthenthal said. "We can't lose on our home court."

The Trojans (5-0) trailed much of the second half and were down by five points when Bluthenthal took over. He scored nine straight points in a spurt that broke an 82-all tie and put USC ahead for good.

"Coach Bibby said we had to strike first," Bluthenthal said. "In the first half, they got the first punch. I'm sure we didn't expect the intensity they brought."

Northridge (4-3) came close to knocking off its second Pac-10 opponent, having shocked then-No. 15 UCLA 78-74 on the Bruins' home court Nov. 21. The Matadors also nearly beat UNLV on the road three days later, losing by one point.

"Maybe we were too confident after the first half. Maybe we came in feeling too good," said John Burrell, who led Northridge with 21 points. "We didn't do the little things we had to do."

Brian Heinle added 18 points for the Matadors, who had their share of fans in the noisy crowd of 4,019.

"They're a little bit more balanced than UCLA," Heinle said. "They're going to have a great season."

Freshman Desmon Farmer scored a career-high 21 points, keeping USC in the game early in the second half before veterans Bluthenthal, Brian Scalabrine and Brandon Granville steadied the Trojans over the final minutes.

"We were getting down and I tried to be the spark to get us going," Farmer said. "Everything was just coming my way and I was taking advantage of it. Coach told me to find the open spot, crash the boards really hard and the ball will come to me."

Bluthenthal had 11 rebounds and Scalabrine 10 as USC dominated the boards, 43-27, including a 15-5 edge on the offensive end.

"The intensity of our defense was the key to the game," Scalabrine said. "Coach lit a fire under us. He kind of helped us turn it around."

Scalabrine added 19 points, hitting five of six free throws in the final minute when USC finally put the game away. Granville had 15 points, including a timely 3-pointer when the Trojans were clinging to a two-point lead with 4:18 remaining.

"Later in the game when we had to stop them, we did," Bibby said. "That's something we hadn't done earlier in the game. That was key to get a couple of stops."

The Trojans trailed 52-46 at halftime, then scored the first 10 points of the second half to take a four-point lead. But Burrell scored four straight to tie the game at 56.

Neither team led by more than five points as the teams traded baskets over the next 10 minutes.

Down 79-74, Bluthenthal scored nine of the game's next 12 points, highlighted by a slam dunk off a steal and a 3-pointer, to give USC the lead for good.

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