LOS ANGELES (AP) — Boogie Ellis scored 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting, Tre White added 13 points and Southern California beat Utah 71-56 Saturday night.
USC (13-5, 5-2 Pac-12) has won nine consecutive home games, the longest single-season streak of its kind since the Trojans won their first nine games at the Galen Center to start the 2016-17 season.
Reese Dixon-Waters and Drew Peterson each had 11 points, six rebounds and four assists for Southern Cal.
Branden Carlson returned from a one-game absence (non-COVID illness) for Utah (12-7, 5-3) and finished with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting (3 of 5 from 3-point range), nine rebounds and three blocks. Rollie Worster added 12 points.
Worster made a layup to trim Utah’s deficit to 39-34 at halftime. Carlson made two free throws and then threw down a dunk before Gabe Madsen hit a 3-pointer to cap a 7-0 run to open the second half and give the Runnin’ Utes a two-point lead. Ellis answered with a 3-pointer to give USC the lead for good and Dixon-Waters hit a 3-pointer in an 11-2 spurt that made it 59-49 with eight minutes to go.
Utah shot 34% (21 of 61) from the field and made 8 of 25 (32%) from 3-point range.
Ellis has scored in double figures in each of the last eight games following a three-game stretch in which he scored a total of 18 points on 7-of-28 shooting, 2 of 15 from behind the arc.
The Utes have lost three games in a row.
UP NEXT
Utah heads north to play Thursday at Washington State
USC hits the road to take on No. 9 Arizona on Thursday
___
More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25