Oregon easily ends Southern California's winning streak

Will Richardson scored 16 points and handed out nine assists as Oregon snapped Southern California's four-game winning streak with a dominant, 78-60 decision on Thursday in Eugene, Ore.

The Ducks (15-10, 9-5 Pac-12) never trailed and took control early, building an 18-point lead less than 12 minutes into the contest. Oregon set the tone with seven players scoring by intermission, led by Jermaine Couisnard with 11 points.

N'Faly Dante finished with 17 points, three blocked shots and three steals for the Ducks, and Couisnard wound up with 13 points. Nate Bittle added 11 points and matched Richardson's game high with six rebounds.

Richardson (6-for-6) and Bittle (4-for-4) were both perfect at the free-throw line to help Oregon go 16-for-18 as a team.

Oregon shot accurately from the floor, winding up 28-for-52 (53.8 percent), en route to its fourth win in five games.

USC (17-7, 9-4) went just 23-for-56 (41.1 percent) from the field, including 4-for-16 from 3-point range.

The Trojans' inability to connect from deep in the second half, when they shot just 1-of-8, hamstrung their efforts to cut into the deficit.

Boogie Ellis led all scorers with 19 points and was responsible for three of USC's four made 3-pointers, going 3-for-7 beyond the arc. Kobe Johnson and Drew Peterson each scored 11 points in the loss. Vincent Iwuchukwu and Tre White both matched the game high of six rebounds.

Iwuchukwu scored eight points and White had five, making them the only other Trojans to score more than two points in the loss. The defeat, coupled with No. 7 UCLA's win at Oregon State earlier in the night, dropped the third-place Trojans two games out of first place in the conference. No. 4 Arizona (22-3, 11-3), which beat Cal of Thursday, is a half-game behind the Bruins (20-4, 11-2).

Oregon, meanwhile, scored its second consecutive win after beating Arizona State last weekend. The Ducks are 2 1/2 games behind UCLA ahead of the Bruins' visit to Eugene on Saturday.