No. 20 USC rallies to edge Washington State and remain unbeaten

Chevez Goodwin sank a layup and a free throw with 16 seconds left to lift undefeated No. 20 USC to a 63-61 victory over Washington State on Saturday.

Goodwin led USC (8-0, 2-0 Pac-12) with 14 points and added five rebounds. Drew Peterson scored 13 points for the Trojans and Max Agbonkpolo had nine points and a key block with six seconds left.

The Trojans made their last four field-goal attempts for the comeback win.

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Michael Flowers scored 13 points to lead Washington State (6-2, 1-1). Noah Williams finished with 12 points, but missed two shots in the closing seconds — including a three-point attempt at the buzzer that would have given the Cougars the win.

In a back-and-forth game, USC’s offensive efficiency (50% from the field) proved to be too much for the Cougars, who shot just 38%.

TJ Bamba hit a go-ahead three to give the Cougars a 61-60 lead with 31.4 seconds left, setting up Goodwin’s game-winning shots. Bamba finished three for three from behind the arc.

Washington State made its first four field-goal attempts to take an early lead, and led 32-30 at halftime despite going over seven minutes without a field goal.

“It’s a terrific road win for us against a very good team at home,” USC coach Andy Enfield said. “I thought our guys just gutted it out. We played very hard on both ends, got the defensive stop we needed to, and then we made the big play at the end.

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“We put our length in there, we put Max and Drew at the wings so we can have the most length we could for the last 30 seconds.”

Washington State coach Kyle Smith got another good defensive effort from his team, which held Arizona State to just 29 points in its previous game.

“We just weren’t fortunate tonight to get that one to drop,” Smith said of Williams’ final shot. “They’re tough, they’re able to switch things, and like I said their size and length,” he said of USC.