Nikola Jovanovic recorded 12 points and 10 rebounds for USC (8-4), which never trailed but nearly blew a 19-point lead. Katin Reinhardt added 11 points for the Trojans, who have won six of their last seven games.

Kurt Steidl hit four 3-pointers en route to a game-high 18 points and Ethan O’Day chipped in with 14 for Vermont (5-7), which has lost three straight. Hector Harold returned to the lineup after missing three games with a foot injury but scored only four points on 1-of-10 shooting while grabbing nine rebounds.

The Trojans quickly built an 11-3 lead before Vermont, which made just one of its first 11 shots, trimmed the deficit to 19-15. The Catamounts, however, scored just two points in the final 5:15 of the first half and the Trojans took a 43-26 lead into the break.

Vermont used a 12-0 run to get within 54-48 with 7:50 to play, but the cold-shooting Catamounts never got closer than four points the rest of the way, missing a slew of wide-open 3-pointers. Vermont shot just 30.2 percent and turned over the ball 17 times.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Vermont starting sophomore G Dre Wills suffered an apparent ankle injury early in the first half but returned after the intermission. …USC begins conference play on Jan. 2 at Utah. … Trojans G Elijah Stewart, who was 10-for-10 from the floor in his last game, went 0-for-4 and finished with two points.