Tyler Bilodeau puts up 26 as Oregon State tops USC

Sophomore Tyler Bilodeau scored a career-high 26 points and Jordan Pope recorded 20 points and six assists as Oregon State posted an 86-70 victory over Southern California on Saturday night in Pac-12 play at Corvallis, Ore.

Dexter Akanno added 18 points to help Oregon State (9-4, 1-1 Pac-12) win for the sixth time in the past seven games. The Beavers shot a sizzling 59.6 percent from the field — including 8 of 17 (47.1 percent) from 3-point range — and led by as many as 23 points.

Boogie Ellis made four 3-pointers and scored 20 points to pace USC (6-7, 0-2), which lost for the fifth time in its past six games.

Freshman Bronny James had a season-best 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting in 20 minutes off the bench for the Trojans. It was his fifth game since returning from a procedure to address a congenital heart defect.

USC made 50.9 percent of its attempts and hit 10 of 26 (38.5 percent) from behind the arc.

Both teams were careless with the ball — Oregon State committed 21 turnovers and the Trojans had 20. The Beavers held a 28-18 rebounding advantage.

The Trojans trailed by 23 points just past the midway point of the second half before soon making a run.

Ellis and James drained 3-pointers 42 seconds apart to cap a 10-2 burst that brought USC within 69-57 with 4:35 remaining.

James buried another trey with 3:43 left to trim the Oregon State lead to 71-61.

However, the Beavers scored the next eight points, the last five by Akanno, to boost the score to 79-61 with 1:30 left.

Bilodeau converted a three-point play to make it 83-63 with 1:08 remaining as the Beavers closed it out.

Oregon State shot 66.7 percent from the field in the first half while taking a 39-30 lead. The Trojans shot 50 percent. Both teams committed 14 turnovers in the half.

The Beavers scored the final four points of the half and then rattled off the first 11 of the second half. Pope had seven points during the second-half salvo, including a 3-pointer to give Oregon State a 50-30 lead with 15:15 remaining in the game.

After the Trojans moved within 11 with 13:30 left, Bilodeau scored seven during a 14-2 run that saw Oregon State hold a 64-41 lead with 9:44 left.

—Field Level Media