Drew Peterson knocks down game-winner at Oregon, Trojans set wins mark
With March Madness approaching, this USC basketball team continues to flash its flair for the dramatic.
After winning on a buzzer-beater last Sunday vs. Washington State and then needing two overtimes to prevail at Oregon State on Thursday, the No. 16-ranked Trojans did it again Saturday at Oregon.
USC trailed for most of the final 3 minutes in what had been a back-and-forth game all night, but Drew Peterson drained a wide-open 3-pointer coming out of a timeout to put the Trojans ahead with 11.5 seconds left and the defense held strong on the other end to close out a 70-69 win at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Ore.
Peterson continued his late-season surge with a game-high 20 points on 9-of-17 shooting with 8 rebounds, and Isaiah Mobley shook off early foul trouble to score all 17 of his points in the second half along with 9 total rebounds.
One way or another, the Trojans (25-4, 14-4 Pac-12) have now won six straight games and set a program record for regular-season wins while maintaining control of second place in the conference standings behind Arizona.
"This one meant a lot to us. We grinded this one out. We played very, very hard. It was just a credit to our players," coach Andy Enfield said in his postgame radio interview. "We won a double-overtime game the other night, a one-point game at the buzzer here. We played such good basketball all game long. It's a really hard place to play, Oregon's an outstanding team, and this is just a huge win for our program."
This was Peterson's third 20-point performance in the last five games, a stretch in which he's averaging 20.2 points to raise his season scoring average to 12.5 PPG.
He sprinkled in big shots throughout the game, keying an early 9-0 run in the first half, and confidently looking for his shot when the opportunity was there -- as it was in the biggest moment of the game.
USC was down 3 with under 2 minutes to go after a driving layup from Oregon's De'Vion Harmon before pulling ahead on a second-chance basket by Max Agbonkpolo and a short jump hook from Mobley to make it 67-66 with 47 seconds remaining.
But Oregon (18-11, 11-7) followed right back with a 3-pointer from Quincy Guerrier on the left wing to pull ahead again, prompting USC to call timeout with 22 seconds left.
Coming out of an earlier timeout, USC had Peterson drive and kick it to Mobley for that short jump hook, and Enfield dialed up a similar look for the Ducks again. Except this time, the defense sagged off Peterson, who realized he was all alone on the right wing and didn't hesitate to fire in the go-ahead 3-pointer with 11.5 seconds on the clock.
"Our last two possessions out of the timeout, the first time out we ran a slip and Drew passed it to Isaiah and he got the jump hook from 3 feet, and then the second time right here, the game-winner, we set the ball screen again but a little higher out and gave Drew room to work, and he just took what the defense gave him," Enfield said. "They were expecting him to drive and he pulled up and shot a wide-open 3. That's just big-time plays."
USC would need a couple more big-time plays on the other end to seal this one, though.
Mobley got a block on Jacob Young but the ball went out of bounds as possession stayed with Oregon. The Ducks called another timeout with 6 seconds left, USC subbed in 6-foot-11 forward Joshua Morgan and after Oregon not so cleanly got the ball inside to guard Will Richardson, it was Morgan who successfully contested the shot by going straight up to avoid any potential foul as the final shot landed off the mark.
Richardson, who had scored 28 points in a 79-69 Oregon win at USC last month, finished 0 for 8 from the field with just 2 points.
Oregon had five players score in double figures, led by Guerrier's 15, but it wasn't enough in what was a hugely important game for the Ducks' NCAA tournament hopes.
"We have terrific defensive players, Max and Reese [Dixon-Waters] and Drew. We put size and length on him. Kobe Johnson came in and played outstanding basketball. He had 5 steals the other night, 2 more tonight -- he had 7 steals on a road trip in 23 minutes, pretty incredible. We just tried to make it hard for Richardson," Enfield said. "He's an all-league player. He really hurt us the game they beat us at home, and tonight he was 0 for 8 from the field including that last one. Josh Morgan challenged that one straight up and made him miss that last contested shot for the win."
As for Mobley, he was sent to the bench with more than 8 minutes left in the first half after picking up his second foul. The Trojans kept the game close without him, but his play in the second half was pivotal to the win.
"He was incredible. He had no points at halftime, he had foul trouble, and he came out, 17 and 9 and he made 5 out of 6 free throws. That student section is tough. He got fouled on that 3 [with 2:14 left to play], missed his first one and made the next two. I thought that took a lot of heart and guts right there to refocus. He just played so well for us in the second half," Enfield said.
The Trojans are two games behind Pac-12 lead Arizona, which got blown out by Colorado on Saturday, with 2 games to play and host the Wildcats at Galen Center on Tuesday night.
"I hope we have a packed house like we had for UCLA. This is a huge game for us. We're looking forward to going home," Enfield said. "... I'm really proud of our team to be where we are right now. If you would have asked me before the season or say you're going to be 25-4 at this point, that's pretty incredible so it's a credit to our players. They've done a great job."