Los Angeles, CA—Reese Dixon-Waters and Tre White put on a shooting clinic both scoring a career-high 20 points for USC. Southern California beat Long Beach State 88-78 Wednesday night at Galen Center.
White made 9 of 14 from the hardwood and Dixon-Waters, who also had a career-best five assists, two swipes and two blocks, was 8-of-12 shooting. Drew Peterson scored 15 points, 10 boards, and seven assists for the Trojans and Kobe Johnson made (5 of 6) from the field and finished with 14 points.
The Trojans (8-3) came out blazing, scoring the first seven points unanswered and took a 20-8 lead before the Long Beach got settled in on offense. A Tobias Rotegaard long three helped end USC’s run, LBSU were able to relatively stay in striking distance, trailing 43-32 going into the break.
Long Beach State (4-6) dominated the boards on the night, outrebounding USC 50-32 behind a double-double effort from Aboubacar Traore, who finished with 16 points ,16 boards to go along with four assists.
USC has won four in a row since losing to No. 6 Tennessee and No. 22 Wisconsin on back-to-back days at the Battle 4 Atlantis last month.
The Trojans have won nine consecutive games played in the month of December, dating to an 82-72 loss to Colorado on New Year’s Eve.
In the second half, it was Long Beach State that carried the momentum. Long Beach State opened the half on an 8-3 run, forcing the Trojans to regroup. A long three pointer from Marcus Tsohonis trimmed the lead to three at 58-55, Tsohonis hit another 3-pointer to spark a 10-4 spurt that cut Long Beach State’s deficit to 66-65 — the closest LBSU had been since USC led 2-0 — with 8 minutes to go but USC scored 11 of the next 13 points to take a 10-point lead and never looked back.
Tsohonis led Long Beach State with 17 points, and Joel Murray scored 14. AJ George each ended in double-figures as well, but the Beach came on a little too late to dethrone the cross town rival.
USC is 17-2 in December over the past four seasons.
LBSU has lost three straight games and four of its five.
UP Next:
Long Beach State will return home for a pair of games before the holiday break, hosting Life Pacific at 7 p.m. on Monday, December 19 as well as Idaho at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, December 21. Both games will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
USC will play Auburn at home Sunday, Dec. 18 at 5:30 P.M.
