Beavers fall to Trojans on the Road

The Beavers visited the USC Trojans today, hoping to get their third win of the season on the road. Oregon State beat USC on Jan 24 in the final seconds of the game 59-55 but that was at home. Although going 14-0 at home the Beavers have struggled going 2-6 on the road. The Trojans entered the game 1-11 in the Pac 12, 9-15 overall, and dead last in the Pac-12. Oregon State is 7-5 in the Pac 12, overall 16-8, and tied for 4th in the Pac 12 with Stanford.

The game would start out sloppy with both teams struggling to score and turning the ball over multiple times. USC would get started with a three from Elijah Stewart, the Trojans would go on a 5-0 run before the Beavers would answer back with their own three from Langston Morris-Walker. The Beavers have made a habit of starting out slow, but have came alive in the later half of almost all of their games.

Oregon St. would take the lead off of a Daniel Gomis free throw going 1-2 from the line, Beavers 6-5. Going later into the half, the Beavers would finally start to pull over from just a one point lead to extending it to six. The biggest lead they had of the game. They would force the Trojans into 11 turnovers ,but had trouble getting any breathing room as they had 9 turnovers themselves.

The Beavers would jump out to six point lead multiple times, but could not extend it pass that, as they had trouble making shots and trouble hanging on to the ball. They had a chance to run out the clock but went aggressive, a errant pass and a steal from Julian Jacobs who would dunk the ball to end the first half. Which would be a momentum shifter for the rest of the game.That would cut the lead to two 28-26 at the half, if the Beavers had been patience they could have went up six or seven at the half.

Oregon State would again open up the second half in the opening minutues slow and the Trojans would seize on that. Going on a eight point run to take the lead and their first since the first half before the Beavers would answer back 30-34. The closet the Beavers would get would be 31-34. After that the Trojans would run away from the Beavers. Oregon State had trouble scoring and put USC in the bonus with eight minutes to go. Also, they would lose their biggest player Jarmal Reid at the 12:01 mark of the second half.

The USC Trojans shooters were red hot from the three point line, using it to keep close in the first half, they would use it in the second half to pull away and make the Beavers pay for their turnovers. The Beavers had difficulty finding any offense in the second half, when they did, the Trojans would answer right back

USC lead would extend their lead to twelve as the Beavers would knock it back down to ten multpie times, but couldn't get any closer then that. The Trojans would close out the game with Elijah Stewart streaking to what would look to be a way open lay up. He would bounce it off the glass for his teammate who would dunk it sealing the game. In turn, taking the life out of the Beavers. The final score was 68-55 with the Trojans winning by thirteen.

USC's Elijah Stewart would have the best game of his young career, going 5-10 from the three point line and 19 points, his career best, to lead the Trojans to the win. He showed he could both defense with 3 steal and 3 blocks. Two other Trojans would score in double figures, Julian Jacobs with fourteen, Katin Reinhardt with sixteen points and hitting three three's.

Oregon State would be lead by Langston Morris-Walker with seventeen, Gary Payton ll with eleven, and Daniel Gomis ten. Oregon State is 7-0 when their defense holds opponents to 37.2% shooting which they didn't do today USC shot 45.1%. They would be outshot at three pointers to 44.1% to the Beavers 29.4%. The defense would again force a high 22 turnovers for USC, but couldn't capitalize on them and committed 15 themselves.

The Beavers fall to 7-6 an 6th in the Pac 12, 16-9 overall and hurt their chances to make the NCAA tourney. They host Utah at home on Thursday and many have the ranked Utes as the favorites to win.

The Trojans move to 2-11 in Pac 12, still dead last and 10-15 overall. They also snapped a 9 game losing streak. They play Arizona on the road on Thursday.