USC Has Moments but Not Right One

USC lost the ball on a shot-clock violation and then lost another game.

The Trojans could only watch as junior guard Markee Brown hit an eight-foot jumper at the buzzer Saturday to end a record 14-game Oregon State losing streak with a 56-54 victory.

The Trojans, 11-17 overall and 4-12 in the Pac-10, lost their eighth consecutive game and remained winless under interim Coach Henry Bibby as the Beavers (4-22, 2-15) won for the first time since beating Washington on Jan. 11.

Bibby fell to 0-7 since replacing Charlie Parker.

“Those were two teams that are struggling,” Bibby said. “It’s unfortunate one of us has to keep losing.”

Brown’s last-second shot was his only basket of the second half. He finished with seven points.

The winning basket came after the Beavers forced a shot-clock violation, which gave Oregon State the ball under its basket with 2.2 seconds remaining. USC’s Jaha Wilson deflected Brown’s long in-bounds pass out of bounds under the Trojan basket with 1.9 seconds left.

Following a timeout, J.D. Vetter passed inbounds to Brown in the lane. He spun away from defender Behzad Souferian and cleanly swished his shot from the left side, touching off a wild celebration by Beaver fans.

USC’s David Crouse led all scorers with a career-high 22 points. He also pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds.

The Trojans erased an early 10-point deficit to take a 26-25 lead at halftime. They stretched it to 34-27 with 16:49 remaining before the Beavers went on an 11-1 run to move ahead to stay, 38-35.

“It was my first game-winning shot,” said Brown, a Los Angeles native. “I was just praying once it left my hand, just hoping it would go in.”