Arizona falls to USC in first round of Pac-12 Tournament

LAS VEGAS — The USC Trojans used a dominant second half to rout the Arizona Wildcats 78-65 on Wednesday in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament at T-Mobile Arena.

With the Wildcats (17-15) unlikely to be invited to the NIT, their season is all but over. USC (16-16) will face top-seeded Washington at noon on Thursday.

Tied at the half, USC reeled off a 21-5 run out of the locker room to bury the Wildcats, who did not have nearly enough offensive firepower to trim the deficit to single digits thereafter.

Arizona shot 40 percent from the field, its offense once again leading to its demise. The Wildcats were in the bonus for the final 16 minutes of the period, but were unable to capitalize, only making five trips to the free throw line in the second half.

The Trojans were led by Bennie Boatwright, who finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds as Nick Rakocevic battled foul trouble. Derryck Thornton chipped in with 12 points.

Ryan Luther led the Wildcats with 16 points in his final college game. Brandon Williams was another bright spot, tallying 13 points, including 11 in the first half. Ira Lee had 11 points on 5-of-5 shooting.

Turnovers had been piling up for the Wildcats in recent games and that continued against the Trojans, committing 12.

The first half was truly a game of runs. The Wildcats jumped out to an early 8-2 lead, which USC countered with a 21-4 run to grab a 23-12 advantage after a Boatwright jumper.

But Arizona caught fire from the field and the line, making its final six shots of the period to knot the game at 40-all heading into the locker room.

Despite slogging through two four-minute stretches without a field goal, the Wildcats wound up shooting 50 percent in the period and 11 for 14 from the charity strip.

Brandon Randolph made a tough layup to give the Wildcats a 40-38 lead with 32 seconds left, his only points of the game, but Thornton made a fallaway jumper in the final seconds to tie the game and snap a 9-0 Arizona run.

The Trojans started the second half on a 15-3 run, as the Wildcats made just two of their first 12 shots. Things wouldn’t get much better. Arizona shot a ghastly 32 percent in the second half.

This story will be updated.

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