Boogie Ellis scored 17 points and #21 Southern California tied the school record for victories by holding on for a 65-61 victory over Washington in the Pac-12 quarterfinals on Thursday night at Las Vegas.
Isaiah Mobley contributed nine points, nine rebounds and six assists for the third-seeded Trojans (26-6), who advance to face second-seeded and 13th-ranked UCLA in Friday night’s semifinals. USC matched the 2016-17 team that went 26-10 for most wins.
Terrell Brown Jr. scored 21 of his 23 points in the first half for sixth-seeded Washington (17-15). Emmitt Matthews Jr. added 12 points and Jamal Bey had 10.
The Huskies pulled within 63-61 on PJ Fuller’s steal and layup with 34.7 seconds remaining. USC’s Drew Peterson was called for an offensive foul with 27.5 seconds left, but Brown and Matthews both missed shots for Washington before Reese Dixon-Waters made two free throws with 6.1 seconds left to seal it.
The Trojans shot 49 percent from the field, including 6 of 19 from 3-point range, and held a 44-32 rebounding edge.
The Huskies connected on 30.8 percent of their shots and were 6 of 22 from behind the arc.
USC committed a season-high 23 turnovers to Washington’s eight. Brown had four steals and Bey added two for the Huskies.
Bey connected on a 3-pointer and Brown added a layup to open the second half and give the Huskies a 44-36 lead.
Ellis connected on two 3-pointers as USC answered with an 11-2 run. Max Agbonkpolo culminated the spurt with a three-point play to give the Trojans a 47-46 edge with 15 minutes to play.
Matthews delivered consecutive dunks to give Washington a 50-47 lead with 12:40 remaining.
Peterson buried a 3-pointer to give the Trojans a 56-54 edge with 7:10 remaining before Washington’s Nate Roberts scored in the interior to tie the score with 6:43 to play.
Both teams had trouble scoring over the next few minutes but USC received consecutive baskets from Peterson and Mobley to take a 63-58 edge with 1:01 to play.
Brown shot 8 of 13 in the first half as Washington led 39-36 at the break.
Brown even made two 3-pointers in the half. Despite leading the Pac-12 in scoring at 21.7 points entering the contest, he was just 10 of 55 from 3-point range prior to Thursday’s outing.
Brown struggled in the second half and finished 9 of 25 from the floor.