For the second straight game, the USC basketball team erased a double-digit second-half deficit against a fellow Pac-12 contender. For the second straight game, the Trojans' resilience resulted in overtime. For the second straight game ...
No, not this time.
USC couldn't fully replicate the decisive rally it unleashed on Stanford last Saturday -- but almost. The Trojans shook off an 11-point deficit in the final 8 minutes of regulation and even held a 4-point lead in the final minutes, but they couldn't finish the job this time as host Oregon pulled away in double-overtime for a 79-70 win Thursday night.
The No. 12 Ducks (16-4, 5-2 Pac-12) were simply more in control on their home court while taking advantage of USC's sloppiness in key moments to slip past the Trojans (15-4, 4-2) atop the Pac-12 standings.
Chris Duarte, who was named the national junior college player of the year last season before joining Oregon, was an instigator on both ends, leading the way with 30 points, 11 rebounds and 8 steals, and senior point guard Payton Pritchard added 24 points and 7 assists.
Onyeka Okongwu led USC with 23 points and 14 rebounds while Jonah Mathews scored all 13 of his points after halftime.
Those two spurred the comeback after the Trojans fell behind 56-45 when Duarte turned an Elijah Weaver turnover into a fastbreak layup with 8:01 left to play.
Weaver answered back with a layup, Nick Rakocevic drained two free throws and Okongwu finished a lob at the rim to cut it to 56-51. All of a sudden, here came the Trojans again, turning the tides just as they did in overcoming a 21-point hole in the second half of that win over Stanford on Saturday.
Oregon then turned it over, with Rakocevic feeding the ball upcourt to Mathews on the fastbreak. He missed the layup, but Okongwu was ready to collect the rebound and throw it back in as the momentum mounted.
And with 5:19 left, Mathews drained a 3 from the top of the key to tie it at 56-56 and cap an 11-0 run.
Rakocevic later gave USC its first lead since the opening moments of the game, connecting on both ends of a one-and-one at the line for a 59-58 advantage with 2:17 to play.
And after a miss on the other end, Mathews struck again with a long 3 near the end of the shot clock to give USC a 62-58 lead with 1:22 to play.
Again, though, it wasn't meant to be this time.
Oregon got baskets from C.J. Walker and Pritchard to tie the game, leaving USC the ball with 26 seconds to go, but Mathews immediately turned it over on the inbound to Duarte and the game would eventually go to overtime.
The teams traded the lead in the first overtime before Mathews and Pritchard both missed in the final minute as the score remained tied.
In the second overtime, the Trojans' bid for another statement win in the conference finally came undone.
Duarte and Pritchard both knocked down a pair of free throws early, Rakocevic hit one of two at the line and then Duarte drained a dagger of an open 3 to make it 74-68 and prompt a USC timeout.
Whatever the Trojans drew up on the sideline never manifested, though, as freshman point guard Ethan Anderson tossed a lazy pass that Duarte stole and finished with a layup on the other end to push the lead to 76-68.
The Trojans simply had too many sloppy moments -- totaling 18 turnovers -- despite launching that impressive comeback in a tough road environment.
If there was a glaring difference between the two teams, it was the reliable and composed playmaking of Pritchard -- the veteran point guard USC is lacking as Anderson, fellow freshman Kyle Sturdivant and Weaver continue to ebb and flow between highlight moments and learning experiences. The Trojans looked uncomfortable against Oregon's press and just gave the ball away a few too many times against an opponent able to magnify those miscues.
While Mathews, the Trojans' usually-stabilizing senior guard, contributed to some of the late chaos as well, he nonetheless continued to hit big shots to even put his team in that position. He had been held scoreless in the first half while picking up two early fouls, but he delivered those 13 points after halftime while hitting 3 of 5 from long distance.
Okongwu and Mathews have proven to be the keystones for this Trojans team, and they need to be night in and night out with the supporting cast still unpredictable.
Grad transfer guard Daniel Utomi had a team-high 10 points in the first half, but he didn't score again while ending up 3 of 10 from the field. Weaver, who was the star of the rally against Stanford, couldn't build on that breakout while finishing with 4 points, 4 fouls and 5 turnovers. And Rakocevic remains as up-and-down as any Trojan, talented enough to put the team on his back at times but not as consistent as he was during his big junior season. He finished with 8 points and 6 rebounds while shooting just 1 of 6 from the field and struggling to finish at the rim.
All that said, USC has nonetheless established itself as a true contender in this conference -- a double-overtime loss to the No. 12-ranked team on the road still says plenty about this team's potential. The Trojans had won nine of their last 10 games and have the look -- and tenacity -- of a team that should be relevant until the end of this league race.