USC basketball team wins final game of Brazilian exhibition trip

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The USC men’s basketball team wrapped up its 10-day exhibition trip to Brazil on Friday with a 76-64 win against Tijuca in Rio de Janeiro.

USC Coach Kevin O’Neill said by phone that his team came out sloppy largely because of the absence of floor leader and senior guard Jio Fontan, who was recently diagnosed with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

The team played much better in the second half, O’Neill said.

Sophomore center DeWayne Dedmon scored 19 points, grabbed five rebounds and blocked four shots. Sophomore guard Maurice Jones, the team’s only returning starter with Fontan out for the season, scored 16 points and had seven assists and four steals.

Freshman guard Alexis Moore, who for now is expected to replace Fontan in the lineup, had 16 points and four assists.

‘He did more than I thought he’d be able to do,’ O’Neill said of Moore.

Junior forward Aaron Fuller scored nine points and grabbed eight rebounds, and sophomore forward Garrett Jackson scored eight points.

‘The only bad part of the trip was what happened to Jio,’ O’Neill said. ‘The rest of it was great. It was an unbelievable experience. The rest of our young players, we finally got some time to get a look at them. The unfortunate thing is that our most experienced player is still out.’

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-- Baxter Holmes