USC
Oregon St
Trojans Put End To Oregon State Season, Win 63-60
March 06, 2004 | Men's Basketball
March 6, 2004
CORVALLIS,Ore. (AP) - Desmon Farmer scored 24 points as USC held on to defeat Oregon State 63-60 Saturday, ending the Beavers' bid to qualify for the Pacific-10 Conference tournament.
USC (13-14, 8-10) enters the tournament as the sixth seed, and will face third-seeded Arizona in the first round Thursday.
Chris Stephens scored 22 points for the Beavers (12-16, 6-12), who fought back from a 16-point second half deficit, and led 57-56 with 2:52 remaining.
But the Trojans got a basket from Jeff McMillan and a 3-pointer from Lodrick Stewart to take back the lead for good. Stephens buried a 3-pointer with 38 seconds left, cutting the lead to 61-60, but the Beavers didn't take another shot.
Errick Craven and Stewart added 12 points for the Trojans. David Lucas had 13 points for Oregon State, which shot 31 percent for the game.
The Southern Cal victory propelled UCLA, which was sitting on the bubble after losing to Oregon Saturday, into the tournament.
The Beavers rallied from an awful first half, when they made just 7-of-30 shots (23 percent). The Trojans kept Beaver posts Lucas and Kyle Jeffers blanketed, holding them to a combined 2-for-14 from the field in the first half.
The Trojans, meanwhile, got out and ran, hurting the Beavers with fast breaks and ball movement. Farmer scored to give USC a 21-11 lead at 6:14 in the first half and the Trojans extended it to 34-19 at the half.
The Beavers used a 10-0 second-half run to get back in the game.
Farmer then made a 3-pointer and Craven scored to give the Trojans a 50-41 lead. But USC fell scoreless and the Beavers put together another run. Lucas made two free throws and Stephens scored seven straight points to tie the game at 50-50 at 5:44.
