USC holds off late Arizona State push to win regular-season finale
Adam Grosbard (OC Register) — Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley laid the stakes out simply for his team pregame: Beat USC, make the NCAA tournament; lose, go to the NIT. With the Sun Devils coming into the Galen Center energized and motivated, USC would have to respond, and short-handed, at that.
USC barely escaped with a 68-65 win, but only after a near-disastrous collapse under ASU’s desperation. The finish would be too close for comfort, similar to the sloppy note on which the game started for USC. The Trojans went five minutes without scoring, during which they turned the ball over five times.
USC led for the entire second half, but ASU guard Frankie Collins cut the Trojan lead to two with a 3-pointer with 1:10 to play. USC’s Tre White air-balled a 3, but Arizona State missed its chance to take the lead with 26 seconds left. USC guard Drew Peterson split free throws after an intentional foul and a Collins layup made it a one-point game.
After another intentional foul, smiling USC freshman Tre White hit both free throws to push the lead to three.
Peterson got in Collins’ space on a jump shot, and referees initially granted him three free throws. But after a review, they decided Collins’ foot was on the line and he split his shots from the charity stripe. USC center Joshua Morgan split his own free throws, and D.J. Horne’s attempt to tie at the buzzer was too long as USC (22-9, 14-6 in Pac-12) held on.
“We were trying to foul him, we didn’t do a good job of that,” Coach Andy Enfield said. “We made some mistakes. When you do those little things in the last three or four minutes of the game, that adds up. And it added up, and allowed them to get back in.”
At first, Arizona State (20-11, 11-9) ripped off a 9-0 run while the Trojans committed five turnovers in 4:39. Morgan went to the bench with two quick fouls. With freshman Vincent Iwuchukwu sidelined by a back injury, USC was getting killed by rebounds.
But after Arizona State took an 18-14 lead, reserve guard Oziyah Sellers started an 11-0 USC run with a 3-pointer as the Trojan defense shut down the Sun Devils.
ASU missed its final 12 shots of the first half. And while the Sun Devils grabbed 10 offensive rebounds, USC’s undersized defense held the visitors to three second-chance points in the period.
Morgan picked up two more fouls in the first 90 seconds of the second half. USC again had to rely on reserve forward Kijani Wright, and the freshman rotated well on defense.
He wasn’t perfect, but hustled to make up for any mistakes. After throwing away a pass intended for Kobe Johnson, Wright hustled back to force Arizona State to attempt a lob in transition. The pass was off target, and the layup attempt even more so. Wright grabbed the defensive rebound and passed ahead to start a fastbreak that resulted in a 3-pointer from Trojan difference-maker Boogie Ellis.
“Kijani Wright played his best game as a Trojan,” Enfield said. “Just a lot of energy, rebounding, defensively.”
When the Trojans’ lead was cut to six in the second half, Ellis came back in and immediately scored eight straight USC points as the Trojans went back up 12. This stretch included a tough three-point play in which he yelled as he laid back on the court after the foul.
“Definitely a blessing to play at a level at Galen,” Ellis said. “I’m just happy and blessed to play my last seasons here.”
He was honored pregame for Senior Night alongside Peterson. The guard was a question mark prior to the game with the back spasms that limited him Thursday against Arizona. But he scored USC’s first basket and finished with nine points and five rebounds.
“I didn’t think I was going to play when I woke up this morning,” Peterson admitted. “But with the stakes of the game, being the last home game, I really tried to do everything to get on the floor. I’ve been a part of this program where we’re building every year and trending towards a program that goes to the tournament every year. It’s been great to be part of the building process for this program.”
“We’re always led by Boogie and Drew,” Enfield said.
The narrow win should presumably secure the Trojans a spot on the safe side of the NCAA tournament bubble, taking some of the pressure off next week’s trip to Las Vegas. USC was already locked into the No. 3 seed for the conference tournament. It’ll face the winner of sixth-seeded Arizona State vs. 11th-seeded Oregon State on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. PST.
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