USC plays first game in 3 weeks, beats Santa Clara 86-63

Updated Dec. 29, 2020 9:33 p.m. ET

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Evan Mobley had 17 points, seven rebounds and three blocks, and Southern California beat Santa Clara 86-63 on Tuesday night, the first game for the Trojans in nearly three weeks.

Isaiah Mobley added 13 points, seven rebounds and blocked two shots for USC (5-1). The Mobley brothers combined for 12-of-16 shooting and had 14 of the Trojans 44 rebounds.

The Trojans hadn’t played since Dec. 8, a 91-56 rout of UC Irvine, due to a confirmed COVID-19 case within the program. They canceled games against San Francisco and Texas Southern, and had their opening Pac-12 matchups against Stanford and Oregon State postponed.

Tahj Eaddy added 13 points for the Trojans. Drew Peterson, a junior transfer from Rice, had seven points and nine assists. Chevez Goodwin added 10 points off the bench.

Josip Vrankic and Christian Carlyle scored 13 points apiece for Santa Clara (6-2), which has lost two consecutive games after a 6-0 start.

Evan Mobley scored six points during a 14-4 run that gave the Trojans a 20-10 lead with 14 minutes remaining in the first half, and they led by double digits the rest of the way.

The 20 days without a game is the longest stretch for the Trojans since the 1967 season, when they went 36 days without a game (Dec. 21-Jan. 27).

___

For more AP college basketball coverage: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and http://twitter.com/AP_Top25