Otega Oweh’s tip-in just before time expired elevated Oklahoma to a 72-70 defeat of No. 23 Southern California in the championship game of the inaugural Rady Children’s Invitational on Friday in San Diego.
Oweh was one of four Sooners to score in double figures. His 16 points combined with Javian McCollum’s game-high 18 points, John Hugley IV’s 14 points and 10 points from Milos Uzan as Oklahoma (6-0) held off a late-game rally.
The Sooners went on a 9-2 run during which USC endured a 3:42 scoring drought to build a six-point lead late. The Trojans (4-2) responded by holding the Sooners to just two points from the 4:02 mark of regulation until Oweh’s game-winning tip-in.
USC took possession with its first opportunity to tie, but Isaiah Collier — who finished with 10 points and committed six of the Trojans’ 11 turnovers — stumbled on his drive to the basket to cough up possession.
Oklahoma sent Le’Tre Darthard to the free-throw line, where he missed the front end of a one-and-one and Oweh was called for a foul going over DJ Rodman’s back. Rodman sank both foul shots with 25.4 seconds remaining to knot the score at 70-70, setting up McCollum’s contested fadeaway jumper that rimmed out with Oweh in position to put it back.
Oklahoma finished with nine offensive rebounds to USC’s seven. The Sooners also enjoyed a 38-30 advantage for points in the paint, nearly making up the difference in a 20-10 Trojans edge for points off turnovers.
Oklahoma coughed up possession 15 times.
The Sooners outshot the Trojans 50 percent from the floor (30-of-60) to 45.6 percent (26-of-57), and they went 10-of-22 from beyond the 3-point arc to USC’s 9-of-23.
Boogie Ellis and Kobe Johnson, who led USC with 16 points apiece, went 2-of-6 and 2-of-5 from 3-point range, respectively. They paced four Trojans scorers in double figures, with Rodman adding 10 points to go with five rebounds. Joshua Morgan grabbed six rebounds and blocked two shots for USC, one day removed from blocking a program record 10 shots vs. Seton Hall.
–Field Level Media