LOS ANGELES — Road wins have been hard to come by for Washington State this season.
It wasn’t easy, but the Cougars finally got a respite from their road woes on Wednesday night.
Dexter Kernich-Drew scored 19 points, DaVonte Lacy added 17 and Washington State held off a late rally to beat Southern California 70-66.
Josh Hawkinson added 11 points and 13 rebounds for the Cougars (12-15, 6-9 Pac-12) to tie the school’s single-season record with 17 double-doubles. It was Washington State’s first road win since Jan. 10 and just its third all season.
“We really, really needed to win,” Kernich-Drew said. “I would’ve liked to have kept a big lead but we weren’t quite able to do that.”
The Cougars stayed in front the entire second half but had to hold on tight.
WSU led 55-36 with 11:19 to go, but the Trojans (10-18, 2-14) staged a furious rally to cut the lead to 69-66 with 13 seconds to go. Hawkinson made 1 of 2 free throws to give the Cougars a valuable four-point lead with six seconds left, and USC turned it over on its final possession.
“We just hung in there,” Kernich-Drew said. “We tried to get stops but they kept hitting shots. Luckily enough we were able to rebound, get to the foul line, and knock down some foul shots so it wasn’t really a one-possession game.”
Julian Jacobs had 16 points, nine assists and five rebounds to lead the Trojans. Malik Marquetti and Katin Reinhardt scored 16 points apiece and Nikola Jovanovic had 10 points and seven rebounds.
Washington State made six 3-pointers in the first half, including four by Kernich-Drew, to get out to a 37-27 halftime lead. The Cougars set the tone with runs of 10-0 and 14-2 in the opening period.
“That was the best half of basketball we played all year long,” Cougars coach Ernie Kent said. “To USC’s credit, with their style the play, they keep coming at you. It was very difficult to keep them at bay.”
Lacy scored 13 of his 17 points after the break, including nine straight points during a 12-4 run that made it 55-36 with 11:19 to go.
Reinhardt and Jacobs led the Trojans rally with 12 points apiece in the second half.
“We keep getting close,” Jovanovic said. “Our time is coming.”
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