Southern California Trojans vs Washington St. Cougars Match Player Stats On Feb 02, 2019

Nick Rakocevic led four Southern California players in double figures with 25 points and added 13 rebounds as the hot-shooting Trojans knocked off Washington State 93-84 on Saturday in Pullman, Wash.

Jonah Mathews hit 6 of 7 from long range in scoring 20 points, while Bennie Boatwright added 18 points and Derryck Thornton chipped in 12 points and six assists for USC (13-9, 6-3 Pac-12).

The Trojans earned their first road win of the season while prevailing for the fourth time in five games overall.

Robert Franks led the Cougars (8-14, 1-8) with 25 points and added six rebounds. Ahmed Ali scored 18 points, including 13 in the second half. Aljaz Kunc chipped in 14 points.

Washington State's CJ Elleby came in averaging 16 points a game but managed only seven on 3-of-10 shooting against the Trojans.

Rakocevic began the night averaging 15.8 points a game, but he had 15 in the first half on Saturday, including four points as the Trojans scored the first 11 of the game.

USC shot a blistering 62.5 percent from the floor in the first half, including 5 of 10 treys. The Trojans finished at 58.9 percent (33 of 56) from the floor and 10 of 18 on 3-pointers.

The Cougars missed their first 10 shots and didn't get on the board until Isaiah Wade made a layup at the 14:59 mark. They shot only 37.1 percent from the floor in the half, including just 5 of 21 from long range.

The Trojans scored 11 straight late in the half, seven of those from Rakocevic, and went to halftime leading 47-33. Boatwright scored seven points in the final 4:31 before the break.

Washington State made a 10-4 run to open second half to trail only 51-43 at the 17:06 mark, with Ali scoring five.

USC pulled away again, leading by as many as 16. Ali hit a 3-pointer with 1:50 left to cut the deficit to 86-78 before the Trojans sealed the win.

The Cougars shot 42 percent (29 of 69) from the floor for the game, including 14 of 41 from long range. They also hung around as long they did by hitting all 12 of their free-throw attempts. USC went 17 of 25 from the line.

--Field Level Media