Ellis scores 28 as USC beats Arizona State 68-65
Boogie Ellis scored 17 of his 28 points in the second half, Tre White added nine of his 13 after halftime and Southern California beat Arizona State 68-65 Saturday night in the regular season finale for both teams.
USC (22-9, 14-6 Pac-12) has won seven straight in its series with the Sun Devils and closed the regular season with wins in five of its last six games.
Warren Washington sandwiched a dunk and a layup around a Desmond Cambridge Jr. 3-pointer in a 7-1 run that gave Arizona State an 18-14 lead with 7:55 to play in the first half but the Sun Devils missed their next 12 field-goal attempts as USC used a 15-2 run to take a 29-20 lead into halftime and the Trojans never again trailed.
Ellis hit a 3-pointer and Harrison Hornery followed with a three-point play to give the Trojans a 13-point advantage with 12:51 to play and Ellis scored USC's first nine points in an 11-2 run that made it 59-45 with six minutes remaining. The Sun Devils scored 19 of the next 25 points to trim their deficit to a point after Frankie Collins hit a 3-pointer and, after Drew Peterson made 1-of-2 free throws at the other end, made a layup with 15 seconds to go.
DJ Horne hit four 3-pointers and finished with 20 points for Arizona State (20-11, 11-9). Collins and Devan Cambridge added 12 points apiece and Washington had 10 points and 11 rebounds. Desmond Cambridge, the team's leading scorer (13.7 per game), had five points on 1-of-11 shooting, 1 of 9 from behind the arc.
ASU shot 29% (19 of 65) from the field and made just 6 of 28 (21%) from 3-point range.
UP NEXT
Arizona State plays No. 11 seed Oregon State in the opening round of the Pac-12 Tournament on Wednesday
USC, the No. 3 seed, earned a first-round bye and plays the sixth-seeded Sun Devils or the Beavers on Thursday in the quarterfinals
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