Field Level Media
Feb 16, 2019
Bennie Boatwright set a Southern California single-game record by sinking 10 3-pointers Saturday night, powering the Trojans to an 89-66 win over California in Pacific-12 Conference play at Berkeley, Calif.
The 23-point margin of victory equaled the most for USC (14-12, 7-6) over Cal (5-20, 0-13) since the Trojans' 102-69 romp over the Golden Bears in 1972.
Cal dropped its 14th game in a row, including eight straight at home, to become a 20-game loser for the second straight season and the fourth time in school history.
Boatwright finished 10-for-13 on 3-point attempts to break the record set initially by Anthony Pendleton against Long Beach State in 1987 and tied by Katin Reinhardt against Colorado in 2015.
His record-breaker came with 4:05 left and produced USC's last points of the game.
The senior finished with 36 points, one shy of his career best recorded last month at Oregon State.
Boatwright hit a pair of 3-pointers, Jonah Mathews added a third and Victor Uyaelunmo dropped in a layup as USC scored the game's first 11 points and never looked back.
Cal's first points came 3:06 into the game on a 3-pointer by Connor Vanover.
Boatwright's fourth 3-pointer of the first half gave USC its biggest lead of the first 20 minutes at 39-20 with 2:38 left.
The Trojans led 41-26 at the break, then scored the first eight points of the second period on 3-pointers by Mathews and Shaqquan Aaron plus a 2-pointer by Boatwright to blow the game wide open at 49-26.
Kevin Porter Jr. had 14 points and Rakocevic added 12 for the Trojans, who completed a season-series sweep of the Bears.
Rakocevic had 27 points in USC's earlier 82-73 home win.
Rakocevic completed a double-double with a game-high 11 records for the Trojans, who snapped a three-game losing streak and salvaged a split in the San Francisco Bay Area after falling 79-76 at Stanford on Wednesday.
USC shot 52.6 percent overall and 61.3 percent on 3-point attempts, connecting on 19 pf 31.
Justice Sueing had 17 points, Matt Bradley 14 and Paris Austin 10 for Cal. Vanover collected a team-high eight rebounds to go with eight points.
The Bears made only nine 3-pointers in the game, one fewer than Boatwright. They shot 34.6 percent on 3-point tries (9-for-26) and 40 percent overall.
--Field Level Media