USC
22-9,14-6Pac-12
Arizona State
20-11,11-9Pac-12
Boogie Ellis Scores 28 As USC Men's Basketball Outlasts Arizona State, 68-65, In Home Finale
March 04, 2023 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES — Boogie Ellis scored 28 points as USC men's basketball defeated Arizona State in the Trojans' home finale, 68-65 on Saturday night.
Ellis, who was honored on Senior Night along with Drew Peterson, hit four of nine 3-pointers while grabbing five rebounds and three assists. The senior guard was fresh off a 35-point game against No. 8 Arizona on Thursday.
Before tonight's game, we celebrated @BoogieEllis and @Drewpeterson23 for Senior Night! ❤️💛 pic.twitter.com/j3IPSuPcZr
— USC Men's Basketball (@USC_Hoops) March 5, 2023
Tre White scored 13 points on an efficient 5-of-7 shooting and had seven boards. Kijani Wright, who saw his minutes increased with Vincent Iwuchukwu missing the game with a back injury, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked two shots off the bench.
USC (22-9, 14-6 Pac-12) held Arizona State (20-11, 11-9 Pac-12) to its second-worst shooting performance of the season, with the Sun Devils finishing just 29.2 percent from the field. Arizona State also shot just 6-of-28 from the 3-point line.
Despite their shooting woes, the Sun Devils roared back late in the game with a 9-2 run that cut the Trojans' lead to two points with 1:10 remaining. After Peterson split a pair of free throws, Frankie Collins made a layup for Arizona State that brought the Sun Devils within one point.
White made two free throws on the Trojans' next possession, and Collins made just one foul shot. Arizona State had a chance to tie the game on its final possession after Joshua Morgan made just one free throw, but Desmond Cambridge Jr.'s 3-point attempt missed long.
USC had led by as much as 14 points in the second half, with Ellis scoring 17 of his 28 in the later period.
The hoop and the harm for @BoogieEllis! 💪
— USC Men's Basketball (@USC_Hoops) March 5, 2023
He's now up to 23 points tonight!
📺: FS1
📱: https://t.co/QGISLxrrDo pic.twitter.com/98yLEvhg9s
The first half was slightly less eventful, as the Trojans scored the first four points of the game but conceded a 9-0 run to the Sun Devils. Ellis' layup and two jumpers from White returned the lead for USC, and the Trojans closed out the first half on a 15-2 run to take a nine-point lead at halftime.
DJ Horne finished with 20 points for the Sun Devils, which is widely considered to be squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble.
The Trojans will enter next week's Pac-12 Tournament as the No. 3 seed and will face the winner of Wednesday's matchup between six-seed Arizona State and 11-seed Oregon State on Thursday.
🚨 𝑩𝑹𝑨𝑪𝑲𝑬𝑻 𝑨𝑳𝑬𝑹𝑻 🚨
— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) March 5, 2023
The field for the 2023 Pac-12 Men's Basketball Tournament is set! See you next week at @TMobileArena in @Vegas!
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📰 » https://t.co/VpcL5oUZqp#Pac12MBB | #BackThePac pic.twitter.com/RH1Nw6dRYQ
