LOS ANGELES – With each late bucket to extend its massive lead in the game’s waning minutes Thursday, USC appeared to relish its one-sided victory over Oregon State.
Shaqquan Aaron stared down multiple OSU players after his three-pointer extended the Trojans’ lead to a game-high 28 points with under two mintues to play. Walk-on guard Kurt Karis, who was in the game for almost all of the blowout’s final five minutes, rushed down the court for a transition layup with 11 seconds remaining.
It was Karis’ second basket all season, prompting cheers from the home crowd and pushing the game to a 92-66 final score. On one bench, the Trojans smiled and celebrated. At the other end of the court, the Beavers could only watch the seconds tick away on their 12th consecutive loss, leaving them still in search of their first conference win with six regular season games left.
The defeat marked the team’s fourth loss by more than 20 points this season.
“We’ve seen it all year and nothing’s changing,” said redshirt freshman guard Kendal Manuel, who had 11 points (4 of 10). “We just got to buy in and that’s the main thing. Coach always says you got to build for the future. We need to actually lock in and do that.”
On a night when much of the college basketball world was focused less than 15 miles west of the Galen Center, where No. 10 UCLA knocked off No. 5 Oregon in Pauley Pavilion, many a mind in University Park drifted toward Westwood.
After announcing the Ducks had taken a nine-point halftime lead, prompting a cheer, the USC house DJ said to the crowd, “We always want UCLA to lose, don’t we?”
But while the Bruins began a massive comeback, the focus of the 3,989 fans in attendance shifted back to the court in front of them. Not long after the DJ played the “Leave it to Beaver” theme song for OSU’s starting lineups, the L.A. fans had plenty to celebrate.
USC fell behind 6-0 on a pair of three-pointers by JaQuori McLaughlin and Manuel, but soon made 6 of 7 three-pointers during a 22-9 run, taking a 22-15 lead with 12:18 to play in the first half.
“They hit five of their first six threes against man-to-man,” OSU head coach Wayne Tinkle said. “And then we went zone and this same spot that kills us, this right corner. We couldn’t get there and they hit a few more. … Right now, defense on the perimeter is one of our weaknesses, whether it’s man or zone.”
What had once been a hot shooting start quickly deteriorated along with the early lead, as the Beavers missed their final 11 field goal attempts of the first half.
After cutting what had been a 19-point deficit to 59-48 by making 7 of 9 shots, USC responded with a 9-0 run out of a timeout to take a 68-48 lead with 8:22 to play.
“We get the fight in spurts,” Thompson said. “We get it from certain people and then we don’t get it from some people and it switches other games. We just got to get a collective unit and the whole unit has to fight throughout the whole 40 minutes of the game.”
The Trojans took advantages of two strengths in the matchup: depth and athleticism.
Led by Aaron, who finished with a game-high 21 points on 7 of 10 shooting, USC poured in 39 bench points. Oregon State mustered 14.
And for the most part, the Beavers limited turnovers yet saw the ones that did occur turn into quick points in transition as their opponents pushed the pace. USC earned a 20-3 advantage in points off turnovers.
OSU finished with 11 turnovers, trying their third-best mark in league play.
USC forward Bennie Boatwright, who missed the last game against OSU with a knee injury, added 16 points and guard Elijah Stewart finished with 14.
OSU sophomore forward Drew Eubanks and Thompson scored 11 points, while Thompson added eight rebounds and six assists.
Ethan Thompson, a four-star Beavers signee and Thompson’s younger brother, attended the game and sat behind the OSU bench. Sophomore center Gligorije Rakocevic, who scored seven points, had a number of friends and former high school classmates in attendance.
The postgame impromptu reunion behind the team bench led to hugs and smiles before OSU headed back to its Marina Del Ray hotel, earning a two-day break before taking on UCLA, now coming off arguably its biggest win of the season.
— Danny Moran
dmoran@oregonian.com
@DannyJMoran
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