USC Basketball: Trojans lead Washington State 34-24 at halftime

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With Kobe Bryant out of town to face LeBron James, it seems Washington State’s Klay Thompson wants to borrow some of the high-scoring guard’s home-town spotlight.

But Thompson, the Pacific 10 Conference’s leading scorer, will need some help to beat USC tonight.

The Trojans lead the Cougars, 34-24, at halftime at the Galen Center.

Thompson, who came in averaging 22.9 points per game, scored 11 points in the first half on four-for-10 shooting. The Ladera Ranch native was clearly the focal point of WSU’s offense, which ran him off screen after screen until he could get free from defenders.

Even still, only four WSU players have scored. Freshman guard Reggie Moore has 10 on three-for-seven shooting.

It’s Washington State’s lowest first-half total this season. The Cougars’ previous low was 25 at Arizona State, which is tied with USC for the nation’s top-ranked scoring defense (54.7) coming into tonight’s game.

Dwight Lewis leads the Trojans at halftime with 11 points on five-for-nine shooting, but it’s point guard Mike Gerrity who is really responsible for USC’s halftime lead.

With USC leading 10-8, Gerrity threw a fast-break alley-oop pass to a cutting Marcus Johnson, and then assisted Leonard Washington’s two-handed dunk. Gerrity had his hand in six of USC’s next eight points -- either by scoring himself, getting an assist or making a steal -- and USC’s lead expanded to 21-14.

One more note: USC is 10-1 when leading at halftime.

--Baxter Holmes