LOS ANGELES >> It has been so commonplace in recent weeks, that it could have been predicted.
In its win at Washington State last Saturday, USC trailed the Cougars by 11 points following the first four minutes.
Three nights earlier at Washington, it was also down a few baskets early on.
The upset of UCLA in the previous game? Yes, the Trojans fell behind by eight after three minutes.
So even as USC on Thursday night hosted Oregon State, which was winless through its first 11 Pac-12 Conference games and saw its last victory come before Christmas, it arrived at a familiar position. There was an early deficit.
But USC left with an easy 92-66 victory, equaling its second widest margin of victory this season.
The Beavers scored first, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers on their first two possessions in the opening minute, and jumped ahead 6-0.
Whatever potential drama briefly teemed at the Galen Center shortly subsided. USC promptly recovered. Junior guards Elijah Stewart and Jordan McLaughlin each hit a 3-point shot. Sophomore Chimezie Metu flushed a fast-break slam dunk.
By the first media timeout, the Trojans were leading 10-8. They never trailed again.
It was also USC’s fifth consecutive win, as it enters an anticipated showdown with fifth-ranked Oregon on Saturday. The Ducks handed the Trojans their first loss earlier back in December, ending their perfect 14-0 start to the season.
USC improved their record to 21-4 and 8-4 in the Pac-12. The Beavers dropped to 4-21 and 0-12 in conference.
As it pushed ahead of Oregon State during the first half on Thursday, building a 44-27 lead, it relied heavily on its 3-point shooting, making six of its first eight shot attempts from beyond the arc. Of its first 22 points, 18 of them came on 3-point shots.
It also showed no trouble in transition, running with eight fast-break points, or on defense, where it held Oregon State to 32.4 percent shooting in the opening 20 minutes.
For the game, USC shot 51 percent from the field including 45 percent from 3-point range. Oregon State made only 39 percent of its shots.
Sophomore guard Shaqquan Aaron led USC with 21 points, nearly reaching the career-high 23 points he totaled two weeks earlier against UCLA.
It was a notable contribution from Aaron, who left in the second half of the Trojans’ win at Washington State last week when he took a hard fall on his tailbone and had been considered day-to-day this week by USC coach Andy Enfield.
Three others finished in double-figures. Forward Bennie Boatwright finished with 16 points, while Stewart and Metu added 14 and 11 points, respectively.
USC is 3-0 since Boatwright returned from a knee injury. Since his return, the 6-foot-10 sophomore has averaged 17.3 points per game in 25.6 minutes per game.
The Trojans led by as many as 28 points in the final minutes.
For Oregon State, it marked their 19th straight game without its leading scorer, Tres Tinkle, a sophomore guard and the son of Coach Wayne Tinkle.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
