Brown senior guard Felix Kloman turned to face his basket with 2:11 left in the game. He was convinced freshman guard Isaiah Collier had traveled, which would give Kloman’s team possession of the ball with a chance to tie the score back up.

But in reality, Kloman had just been called for a shooting foul, his fourth of the game. The senior became furious, proceeded to argue the foul call with the referee and earned himself a technical, which excluded him for the rest of the game as it was his fifth personal foul.

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The Trojans (3-1) were able to swing the momentum from that point on and secure an 81-70 victory Sunday night at Galen Center by outscoring the Brown University Bears (1-4) 11-2 after Kloman was ejected.

Fifth-year guard Boogie Ellis knocked down both technical free throws, and Collier made both of his free throws from the initial foul call to start USC’s scoring run.

But it wasn’t an easy win for the Trojans. Despite leading for 35:41 out of the 40-minute game, USC allowed Brown to come back and tie it up with 4:54 left to play in the game. Ellis knew a winning outcome was never in jeopardy, though.

“Me and [junior guard] Kobe Johnson, we’re captains, so we’ve been in situations like that before,” Ellis said in the postgame press conference. “When instances happen like that, you’ve just got tota never panic. Stay calm and come out with the win.”

The Trojans pulled out the win despite dealing with a long list of injuries which have hampered their ability to practice as a group. Ellis and Johnson both missed USC’s last game against UC Irvine (3-1), while graduate forward DJ Rodman missed the game against Brown. Freshman guard Bronny James has still not been medically cleared to play after suffering cardiac arrest back in July.

“Our practices have been very inefficient in the last two weeks since we’ve had all these injuries just because we have guys playing out of position,” said Head Coach Andy Enfield. “We can’t even go five-on-five half the time, so it’s been very hard.”

Ellis and Johnson’s return sparked the Trojan offense, as the duo combined for 42 of USC’s 81 points. The two captains were particularly effective from the 3-point line, knocking down eight shots from downtown between the two of them and helping the Trojans shoot 50% as a team from that range.

This 3-point barrage from USC comes only one game after the Trojans went 4-for-21 from deep for a whopping 19%.

“Boogie [Ellis] and Kobe [Johnson] didn’t play in the last game, and they made eight of [the 3-pointers], so that pretty much sums it up,” Enfield said.

While all of their made 3-pointers and 69 of their points came from guards, many of the Trojan’s forwards had strong performances. The Trojans had the rebounding edge over the Bears, 43-40. This was unfamiliar territory for Brown, which had outrebounded its opponents in all of its games before matching up against USC.

Junior forward Harrison Hornery and redshirt senior forward Joshua Morgan led the way with nine rebounds apiece, while sophomore forward Vincent Iwuchukwu was close behind with seven boards — four of which were offensive rebounds.

But the forwards struggled in scoring, as evidenced by the fact that USC’s guards scored 85% of the team’s points. Trojan forwards shot a measly 15% from the field, but Ellis and Johnson made sure to keep their teammates’ confidence high. This paid off as Iwuchukwu, who only made one basket on five attempts, hit five important free throws in the last 11 minutes of the game.

“[Iwuchukwu] got the shots he wanted, they just didn’t fall tonight for him,” Johnson said in the postgame press conference. “Me and Boogie were just trying to keep that confidence in him because we know how good of a player he is, we know how good of a player he can be. If we can maximize his potential for this year, he’ll be very, very beneficial for us.”

As the season continues, though, the Trojans will need to find scoring options down in the post. If any of USC’s guards are out — like Johnson and Ellis were against Irvine — the forwards will have to pick up some of the scoring slack.

“We do need guys off the bench scoring, but Kobe, Isaiah and Boogie are our most talented offensive players,” Enfield said. “We expect them to be our three leading scorers, but we do need other guys to play well offensively, make open shots.”

The Trojans will now prepare to travel to La Jolla, California, for a Thanksgiving matchup against Seton Hall (4-0) in the Rady Children’s Invitational.