DAYTON, Ohio — Beaten by Providence by one point in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament last year, Southern Cal exacted revenge in a rematch Wednesday night.
Bennie Boatwright scored a career-high 24 points as the Trojans rallied from a 17-point deficit in the second half to beat Providence 75-71 in a First Four game.
“It does feel good getting payback from last year, because that was a tough loss,” Boatwright said.
Southern Cal, the No. 11 seed, moves on to play No. 6 seed SMU in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Friday. It will be the second meeting of the season for the teams after USC prevailed 78-73 on Nov. 25. Southern Cal is 5-1 all-time against SMU.
After Providence (20-13) led by 15 points at halftime and went up by 17 to start the second half, Southern Cal (25-9) mounted a furious rally. The Trojans closed it to five points at the 10-minute mark, and went up 61-60 on a jumper by Chimezie Metu off a turnover with 6:46 left .
Metu hit both ends of a 1-and-1 to put Southern Cal up 71-64 with 1:23 remaining and kept Providence from getting momentum down the stretch.
“I think we just got out-toughed in the second half,” Providence guard Jalen Lindsey said. “We weren’t playing with the same passion we were in the first half, and it showed. And they executed their game plan and we kind of faltered back.”
Jordan McLaughlin scored 18 points for Southern Cal, and Metu added 15 on 9-for-12 free throw shooting.
Emmitt Holt led Providence with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Lindsey and Rodney Bullock added 17 each.
The comeback was Southern Cal’s 12th this season of at last 10 points, the most in the nation.
Providence outshot Southern Cal 49 percent to 42 percent, but the Trojans outscored them in the second half 46-27.
“I thought we got lazy defensively in the second half, and I was really shocked at that given the time and score of this game,” Providence coach Ed Cooley said.