No. 19 USC Men's Basketball Rallies In 58-53 Win At Arizona State Behind Boogie Ellis, Isaiah Mobley
Boogie Ellis scored a game-high 21 points — seven from the final 45 seconds of the game — as No. 19 USC men's basketball rallied late to beat Arizona State, 58-53 in Tempe on Thursday night.
Isaiah Mobley had 12 points — including two clutch buckets that kept the Trojans (19-3, 9-3 Pac-12) in the game during crunch time — and grabbed nine rebounds.
Drew Peterson had a career-best 12 boards for the Trojans, which grabbed a season-high 58 rebounds compared to the Sun Devils' 39. USC's 20 offensive rebounds was also a season high.
The Trojans swept their season series over Arizona State (6-13, 2-7 Pac-12) after USC won the first meeting on Jan. 24 at Galen Center, 78-56.
The Trojans survived despite shooting a season low 30% from the field. Arizona State's defense bothered USC all night and blocked 11 of the Trojans' shots.
Contrary to recent trends, USC started the game on a blistering 14-2 run highlighted by two 3-pointers from Ellis.
Off to a sizzling start in the desert. @BoogieEllis' deep 3 gives us a 10-2 lead.
📺: ESPN2
📱: https://t.co/E08qPi5etA pic.twitter.com/ikWhRclpvk— USC Men's Basketball (@USC_Hoops) February 4, 2022
The Trojans immediately hit a wall following its hot start, going on a six-minute scoring drought and missing 18 of their last 21 field goals of the half while the Sun Devils trailed by just two points at halftime.
The Trojans' shooting woes continued in the second half. Arizona State took its first lead at the 17:12 mark and later hit USC with a 9-1 run. Jalen Graham made a layup that gave the Sun Devils their largest lead at eight points with 11:16 remaining.
USC quickly roared back on a 10-2 run, with Max Agbonkpolo's wing 3-pointer tying the game with 6:03 left.
The Trojans still had trouble taking back the lead until the 2:06 mark when Mobley hit a 3-pointer to give USC a one-point edge. Arizona State took it back with Jalen Graham's and-one play, but Mobley tied the game again with a contested layup with 58.6 seconds remaining.
Trojans retake the lead with a @MobleyIsaiah triple!
📺: ESPN2
📱: https://t.co/E08qPi5etA pic.twitter.com/mEXCnKnGcX— USC Men's Basketball (@USC_Hoops) February 4, 2022
USC switched to a zone defense in the final minute, disrupting the Sun Devils' next two possessions and led to Ellis making three of four free-throw attempts. Ellis made two more foul shots after Kimani Lawrence made a layup for Arizona State closed out the game with a fastbreak dunk in the game's final second.
That'll do it. pic.twitter.com/VT6vrl7GLq
— USC Men's Basketball (@USC_Hoops) February 4, 2022
Graham finished with a career-high 14 points for the Sun Devils.
USC's next two games make up the Trojans' toughest stretch of the season. The Trojans head to Tucson on Saturday to face No. 7 Arizona — which defeated No. 3 UCLA on Thursday — before returning to the Galen Center on Feb. 12 to host the rival Bruins.