LOS ANGELES — Ryan Cornish had a breakout performance for the USC men’s basketball team on Wednesday night and scored a season-high 18 points to help the Trojans beat UTSA, 97-70.

“In third grade, fourth grade, I was a kid who was always throwing a temper tantrum on the court, screaming at the refs,” Cornish said after the game. “And so I learned a pretty early lesson that regardless of whether it’s going my way or not, there’s only one thing I can do, and that’s control the controllables.”

The Dartmouth transfer went five games without seeing the court earlier this season, but he started his third straight game since working his way into the starting lineup on Dec. 9 against San Diego (USD). He shot 6 for 10 from the field on Wednesday and 4 for 8 from 3-point range.

“Nothing was handed to Ryan at USC basketball,” head coach Eric Musselman said. “We need people to step up, and we need to develop our roster the best that we possibly can. Ryan is a great example of someone stepping up and someone who’s being developed in our system to contribute.”

Ezra Ausar scored a game-high 22 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. Chad Baker-Mazara had 20 points and five assists, and Jacob Cofie added 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting.

The Trojans (11-1 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) closed the first half on a 13-0 run to head into the break with a 40-31 advantage.

Ausar tied the score at 31-all on a jump shot and was nearly unbeatable in the paint throughout the evening against a UTSA defense that consistently closed in on him.

The 6-foot-9 senior forward surpassed the 16.8 points he was averaging heading into the game, and he credits his football background for his physicality.

“I’m still waiting on my (football) scholarship,” Ausar said. “Sometimes I have to be conservative because it’s obviously not the same. When you have gear on, you can hit a person however you want to. So, I have to tone down my aggressiveness sometimes because I feel like I’ll be over-aggressive.”

Cornish missed a 3-point attempt, but Baker-Mazara tipped it in to finish a series of well-orchestrated perimeter passes to give USC a 35-31 lead. Jordan Marsh added a 3-pointer and a layup to complete the scoring surge as the final 27 seconds wound down.

UTSA (4-7 overall) shot at a high frequency and was aggressive from behind the arc. The Roadrunners made 5 of 19 attempts from long range in the opening half and made all six of their free throws to stay in the game.

The Trojans made 50% of their shots overall in the first half.

“We finished the first half on a 13-0 run,” Musselman said. “We came right out and started the same group that finished. Just as guys step up, some guys don’t and they do the opposite of stepping up. You’ve got to play the guys that have the right frame of mind and want to compete and play unselfish.”

USC’s confidence grew as its lead did in the second half. The Trojans fearlessly released the ball at the buzzer and grabbed the offensive rebound when the shots didn’t fall to keep the ball away from the Roadrunners.

Marsh made a cross-court layup to open a 56-42 lead with 14:23 left in the game. Two minutes later, he used his speed again to steal a loose ball and charge toward the net. He missed on a jump shot but Baker-Mazara was there once again to finish the job.

The Trojans outscored UTSA 57-39 in the second half and outrebounded the Roadrunners and forced them to turn over the ball 17 times in the game (12 USC steals).

USC continues to play without Alijah Arenas, Rodney Rice and Amarion Dickerson, who are all dealing with injuries. The team announced 30 minutes before Wednesday’s game that Rice will miss the remainder of the season.

The 6-5 junior guard suffered a right shoulder injury against Seton Hall on Nov. 25 that will require surgery.

“Without Rodney in the Big Ten, we’re going to have to grind and play so hard to be able to win games,” Musselman said. “And that’s what we’re trying to instill in our team, which is what we talked about at halftime. We’re going to Michigan. We’re going to Michigan State. We’re going to Minnesota. We have a lot to clean up and we have to exceed the opposition from a playing-hard standpoint.”

Rice averaged 20.3 points, 6.0 assists and 3.3 rebounds in the six games that he played (all starts) this season and recorded a triple-double against Illinois State on Nov. 14 with 21 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

USC was originally scheduled to face Brown on Sunday afternoon, but the two teams mutually agreed to cancel the game due to the impact of the campus shooting on Brown’s campus.

The Trojans will instead host UC Santa Cruz, an NCAA Division III squad, on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Galen Center.