Wednesday, February 13, 2019 11:00 PM (ET)

Wills' late points cap Stanford's rally vs. USC

Field Level Media
Feb 14, 2019

Stanford guard Bryce Wills made a layup with 12 seconds left and added two free throws with one second remaining to give Stanford a 79-76 win over visiting Southern California in a back-and-forth game on Wednesday night.

Willis, who finished with 11 points, six rebounds and four assists, was fouled while making the layup, but he missed the free throw and USC's Nick Rakocevic grabbed the rebound.

After the Trojans called a timeout, Bennie Boatwright missed a jumper with two seconds left. Wills was fouled while pulling down the rebound, and he went on to make the free throws. USC could not get a shot off before the buzzer sounded.

Stanford (13-11, 6-6 Pac-12) was led by KZ Okpala's 18 points and four steals. Marcus Sheffield had 16 points on 4-of-5 shooting from 3-point range. Josh Sharma had 14 points and nine rebounds while Oscar da Silva added 10 points and eight rebounds.

USC (13-12, 6-6) had four players score in double figures, led by Boatwright, who put up 19 points and six rebounds. Rakocevic had 15 points and 11 rebounds. Jonah Mathews added 16 points, and Kevin Porter Jr. finished with 10 points and five rebounds.

USC led 40-35 at halftime behind the scoring of Porter (10 points), Mathews (nine), Rakocevic (nine) and Boatwright (seven).

The Trojans led by as many as 14 points in the first half.

A 3-pointer by Sheffield with 2:24 left in the half capped an 11-2 run for Stanford that cut the deficit to 36-31 with 2:24 left before halftime.

Stanford rallied again after falling behind 51-45 with 14:41 left in regulation. The Cardinal took their biggest lead, 64-58, on a 3-pointer by Sheffield with 7:27 remaining.

USC responded with 10 unanswered points, six of them from Rakocevic, to take a 68-64 lead with 4:31 left.

Stanford retook the lead, 72-70, on a 3-pointer by da Silva with 2:59 left, but then USC went back ahead with 2:00 left on consecutive jumpers by Mathews and Derryck Thornton.

Boatwright made two free throws with 1:09 left to extend USC's lead to 76-72.

A Sheffield 3-pointer with 44 seconds left snapped a stretch of two turnovers and a missed 3-pointer, cutting the Trojans' lead to 76-75.

--Field Level Media

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