Reese Dixon-Waters, Tre White score 20 each as USC beats Long Beach State
Tre White and Reese Dixon-Waters each scored a career-high 20 points on combined 17-of-26 shooting and USC never trailed Wednesday night in its 88-78 win over Long Beach State.
White made nine of 14 from the field and Dixon-Waters, who also had a career-best five assists, two steals and two blocks, was eight-of-12 shooting. Drew Peterson had 15 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for USC and Kobe Johnson made five or six from the field and finished with 14 points.
The Trojans scored the first seven points and took a 20-8 lead when Dixon-Waters made a layup with 12:48 left in the first half. Marcus Tsohonis hit a jumper and then a three-pointer to spark a 10-4 spurt that trimmed Long Beach State’s deficit to 66-65 — the closest the Beach had been since USC led 2-0 — with eight minutes to go but the Trojans scored 11 of the next 13 points to take a 10-point lead when White hit a three-pointer to make it 77-67 with 4:22 remaining.
USC (8-3) 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 2020, and is 17-2 in December over the past four seasons.
LBSU (4-6) has lost three straight games and four of its five.
Tre White scored 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, Kobe Johnson added 14 points, five assists and three steals and USC beat Cal State Fullerton 64-50.
Tsohonis led Long Beach State with 17 points, Aboubacar Traore added 16 points and 16 rebounds and Joel Murray scored 14.
Boogie Ellis had 13 points and five assists for USC but shot just three of 13 from the field.
Long Beach State outrebounded the Trojans 50-32, including 22-10 on the offensive glass, and built a 27-12 advantage in second-chance points.
USC shot 49.2% (32 of 65) from the field and hit 11 three-pointers while limiting Long Beach to 41% (30 of 73) shooting. The Trojans, who went into the game averaging 6.2 blocks per game (No. 4 nationally), finished with seven blocks — including four by Joshua Morgan, whose 33 blocks ranked No. 2 in the nation going into the contest.
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