Oregon State Oregon St./USC USC Men's College Basketball recap on ESPN

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Southern California (No. 22 ESPN/USA Today, No. 25 AP), which has had difficulty putting teams away, had no such problem against Oregon State.

Up by nine at halftime, the Trojans (15-4, 5-2 Pacific-10) opened the second half with a 16-5 run and went on to a 73-47 win Saturday night over the punchless Beavers (8-11, 2-5).

Brian Scalabrine scored 16 points in his 29 minutes, Brandon Granville added 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting from 3-point range, and David Bluthenthal had 11 points as the Trojans won their 12th straight at home dating back to last season.

Still, USC coach Henry Bibby was far from pleased, mostly because the Trojans, who broke out to a 14-2 lead, let Oregon State cut the margin to 22-19 with 3:14 left in the first half before pulling away again.

"Sam Clancy didn't play at all tonight. Granville wasn't ready. Bluthenthal wasn't ready to play and Jeff Trepagnier wasn't ready to play," Bibby said. "They (the Beavers) scored nine points in a row (to trim the deficit to 15-11).

"We didn't have enough guys playing well tonight. I'm hoping for the night where everybody is clicking."

Bluthenthal made his first free throw, two minutes into the second half, to extend his streak to a Pac-10 record 42 straight in conference play, then missed his next -- and final -- try from the line with 5:35 remaining.

Todd Lichti of Stanford had set the conference mark of 41 in a row in 1989.

Clancy, averaging 19.1 points, had just six points on 2-of-9 shooting, although he did pull down 10 rebounds. Trepagnier was 2-of-8 from the floor and had five points.

Emonte Jernigan was the only Oregon State player in double figures, scoring 17.

Missing center Jason Heide, the Beavers were outrebounded 43-31.

"I think USC has a chance to make a run in the postseason," Oregon State coach Ritchie McKay said. "I said at the start of the game that if we didn't shoot well from the perimeter, we weren't going to do well."

The Beavers tried 30 shots from 3-point range, making eight, and also shot just 32 percent (17-54) from the floor. The Trojans were 10-of-27 from beyond the stripe and shot 46 percent (28-61) from the floor.

"In the second half, Scalabrine was really aggressive," McKay said. "When we collapsed down low, they were able to kick it outside and Granville hit a couple of threes."

Bluthenthal made a pair of 3-pointers to start USC rolling to a 14-2 lead in the first seven minutes.

After a miserable start, when Brian Jackson's basket five minutes into the game was their only score for the first 10:36, the Beavers came back from the 14-2 deficit to pull within three on Jimmie Haywood's two free throws.

But that was the last time the Beavers rallied.

Oregon State, coming off a 67-40 loss at UCLA that was the Beavers' worst offensive showing in almost five years, continued that lack of production with the shaky start against USC -- they had five turnovers before they got their second goal.

Heide, the Beavers' leading rebounder (5.1) and second-leading scorer (12.2) was out with an ankle injury.

ALSO SEE
Men's College Basketball Scoreboard

Oregon State Clubhouse

USC Clubhouse