The USC men's basketball team in on a tour of South America, with their latest stop in Sau Paulo, Brazil to play the professional Brazilian team Mogi das Cruzes in an exhibition match. The Trojans fell 81-70 in the exhibition, but may have lost even more with their star senior Jio Fontan suffering a knee injury.
Fontan has been the most productive scorer for the Trojans, dropping 57 combined points in USC's first two exhibitions on its five-game, 10-day excursion through Brazil to play professional Brazilian teams. Fontan took a blow that caused him to fall, landing awkwardly with about four and a half minutes before halftime. The team has diagnosed it as a left knee sprain as X-rays were negative, but has an MRI scheduled for Wednesday after the team lands in Rio de Janeiro.
Sophomore guard Maurice Jones lead the way, dropping 17 points and a team-high eight rebounds, not bad for being 5'7". The team also started 7-footers Dedmon and James Blasczyk, who scored seven points and grabbed five rebounds combined, while sophomore forward Garrett Jackson added 12 points and six rebounds.
Mogi das Cruzas is in it's first year at the professional level in Brazil, and is 3-0 thus far in it's exhibition season.
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