Perhaps this sounds familiar ...

The USC basketball team started sluggish Thursday night, looked flat and lost on offense early and fell behind by double digits. But the Trojans launched a second-half surge and came back to take the lead, with Onyeka Okongwu and Jonah Mathews delivering key contributions on both ends and emerging sophomore guard Elijah Weaver serving as a timely catalyst.

Yep, USC stuck to a familiar script, erasing a double-digit deficit for the third time in four games before finishing off a frenetic final few minutes for a 56-52 win inside the Galen Center.

"It's just kind of like, we've been here before," Weaver said. "We're at home, and today, it's a special day, we're playing for Kobe so it's kind of like [we're] not losing at home."

Said forward Nick Rakocevic: "We've been there before, so the little leads, they don't faze us. We just kind of like to chip away at the lead and support each other. … That's how we approach it -- we have no selfish people on this team. We're all a team, and everybody just wants to win and everybody is just on the same page. When you got a group of guys like that, it's easy to come back from a deficit or win games."

Those two were among the key contributors as Weaver scored 10 of his season-high 14 points during a game-swinging run, and Rakocevic tipped in the go-ahead basket to give USC the lead for good late in the final minute on the way to a team-high 16 points and 15 rebounds.

Okongwu added 11 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocks and essentially sealed the win with his final block and two ensuing free throws in the waning seconds. And Mathews chipped in 13 points, including another pivotal 3-pointer.

USC (17-4, 6-2 Pac-12) was down 16-6 early and 29-23 at halftime against the Utes (12-8, 3-5). It was back to a nine-point deficit at 40-31 with 12:30 left to play before the Trojans made their now customary second-half run.

Weaver, who has really embraced his sixth-man role over the last couple weeks, drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key to get it started. After several empty possessions for both teams, Weaver struck again with a baseline drive and layup, Mathews knocked down a 3 from the top of the key on the next possession, Okongwu then delivered a big block on the defensive end and Weaver finished a fastbreak layup to give USC a 41-40 lead -- its first lead of the game.

After the teams traded points, Weaver then hit another big 3 from the right side to give the Trojans a 46-42 lead with 5:00 left.

Utah wasn't folding, though. Branden Carlson and Timmy Allen scored the next four points to tie it.

Back and forth it went.

Two free throws from Mathews followed by two free throws from Utah's Riley Battin to tie it again. A nifty spin and toss off the glass by Okongwu, and then back-to-back baskets in the paint by Carlson and Allen for a 52-50 Utah lead with just over a minute to go. Only to be tied again 8 seconds later as Mathews hit both ends of a one-and-one from the line.

Then someone finally missed -- Carlson clanked two free throw attempts and the anticipation in the building rose as the Trojans had another chance to seize control of the lead.

Mathews fed a perfect bounce pass to Okongwu, who had his shot roll off the rim -- but Rakocevic tipped it back in for a 54-52 lead and Utah called timeout with 15.7 seconds on the clock.

"I saw when it left his hand it looked a little off to me -- it looked like it was leaning more toward the left, and I just kind of got the lucky bounce where it bounced right to me and I had an easy tip-in," Rakocevic said. "... I was in the right place at the right time."

The Utes gave it to their best player, Allen, but Okongwu not only blocked his drive through the paint but he entirely snatched the ball away as USC took possession with 6 seconds left after a subsequent timeout.

Okongwu was fouled with 5.2 on the clock and knocked down both ends of the one-and-one to make it 56-52 and seal the win.

"We started out the game very slowly on offense … so we have to address that, but very, very proud of our young men," Enfield said. "Holding them to 32-percent shooting, once again we're holding teams to way under 40 percent on the season. And when you can't score yourself, you better defend -- and we've done that. Very, very proud of our young men for just staying in the game and defending for 40 minutes. … The defense won the game for us tonight."

As Enfield noted, Utah shot 32.7 percent from the field, including 27.6 percent after halftime. Allen led the Utes with 13 points and 9 rebounds while Carlson (11), Battin (10) and Rylan Jones (10) also scored in double figures.

For USC, Rakocevic scored 12 of his 16 points in the first half while scoring in double figures for just the third time in eight conference games. He was an efficient 7 of 12 from the field.

Weaver, meanwhile, continues to assert himself. He hit the game-tying 3 and scored 8 points in overtime in USC's rally from a 21-point deficit against Stanford two weeks ago. He then had 13 points off the bench in the Trojans' convincing win at Oregon State -- their only lopsided game in the last four -- and continued his emergence as a clutch contributor Thursday.

"I think that's my new role. We've been talking about sixth man and stuff -- coming off the bench and bringing energy -- so that's all it was," Weaver said.

Again, USC has been playing a lot of games like this of late. They followed that comeback vs. Stanford with a late rally at Oregon to take a lead in the final minutes before ultimately losing in double-overtime. And then Thursday night.

With the win, the Trojans remain in a logjam of teams atop the Pac-12 standings with two losses, trailing Oregon (7-2 in the league) and ahead of Colorado (5-2) and Stanford (4-2). USC hosts the Buffaloes on Saturday night.

"We've had a lot of close games -- the LSU game, TCU, Stanford, Oregon, this game, I can't remember what else. Those are all really good basketball teams, and I think we're 4-1 in those games," Enfield said. "It's a credit to our players when you defend, you get some stops … tonight we got a crucial stop down the stretch and same thing with the other games."

USC paid its respects to Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and the other seven people who died in the helicopter crash Sunday morning.

And afterward, Weaver and Rakocevic spoke about playing with Bryant on their mind Thursday night.