USC men’s basketball can’t hang on, falls to No. 19 Washington State

PULLMAN, Wash. — USC freshman Isaiah Collier scored a game-high 24 points but missed a critical free throw with 23 seconds left as the Trojans fell 75-72 to No. 19 Washington State on Thursday night.

Collier’s free throw would have cut Washington State’s lead to two points. Jaylen Wells then missed two free throws on the other end for Washington State and USC (11-17, 5-12) had one last chance to try to force overtime, but Boogie Ellis and Kobe Johnson missed 3-point attempts in the final seconds.

Collier used his physicality and athleticism to score 14 points in the first half. He had back-to-back clutch drives and baskets in the final minutes.

Late in the first half, the Cougars (22-7, 13-5 Pac-12) turned it over on three consecutive possessions and five times in a two-minute stretch to help USC race to a 39-27 lead. But Washington State closed the half with an 8-0 run to close the gap to 39-35 at intermission.

USC outscored the Cougars 46-20 in the paint.

DJ Rodman, a USC graduate transfer who played his first four years at Washington State, was greeted with frequent boos in his return to Pullman. He scored 8 points.

Isaiah Watts and Andrej Jakimovski scored 18 points each and Myles Rice added 16  for the Cougars, who have won eight of their last nine games..

The Cougars trailed by 12 points late in the first half and didn’t take their first lead until 2:35 remaining on a 3-pointer from Watts, his fifth of the game.

Wells, who had 13 points, scored five straight to put Wazzu on top for good and stretch its lead to 73-69.

The Cougars, playing in front of their largest crowd of the season, shot 10 of 20 from 3-point range. All but one of their 3s came from Watts and Jakimovksi.

BIG PICTURE

USC: The Trojans controlled this one for most of the night and looked to be on their way to their third win in four games. But they failed to get stops at the end to continue a disappointing season.

Washington State: The Cougars look disjointed for much of the night on offense and suffered multiple defensive breakdowns like they did last week at Arizona State. But their 3-point shooting kept them in the game and they caught fire at the end to continue their best season in 15 years.

UP NEXT

USC: At Washington on Saturday.

Washington State: Hosts UCLA on Saturday.