USC tops UW to advance in Pac-12 tourney

Daily Trojan

Katie Chin | Daily TrojanMoving on · Freshman guard De’Anthony Melton comes around a block and drives toward the paint. The Trojans stayed neck-and-neck with Washington on Wednesday night, but pulled out the win to advance to play UCLA.It was not the ideal start they expected, but USC managed to use a second half rally to come away with a tightly contested 78-73 victory over Washington in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament Wednesday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
After trailing the Huskies by a basket at the half, USC opened the second half on a scoring run that gave it the only lead change of the game.
A 3-point field goal from Washington sophomore guard Matisse Thybulle put the Huskies ahead of the Trojans 37-27 with 3:33 remaining in the first half. USC responded by finishing the first half on a 10-2 run that was capped off with a dunk from USC sophomore Chimezie Metu. The Trojans trailed Washington at the half, 39-37.
USC’s 14-5 run to open the second half gave the Trojans a 52-44 lead over Washington with just under 15 minutes remaining in regulation. USC took its first lead of the game on a dunk from Metu that put it ahead of the Huskies, 43-42, with 17:25 left in the second half. This dunk from Metu gave USC a lead it would not relinquish for the remainder of the game.
The Trojans used a 9-0 scoring run midway through the second half to solidify its lead over Washington. A 3-point field goal from junior guard Elijah Stewart gave the Trojans their largest lead of the game at 67-53 with 9:10 left in play.
“We were just being smart and trying to take care of the basketball tonight,” junior guard Jordan McLaughlin said to the Pac-12 Network. “I was just trying to make the smart play ...

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