Beavers rally to conquer USC

Jason Fontenet had 14 points, including 12 in the second half, as Oregon State rallied to beat Southern California 74-64 on Sunday at Corvallis, Ore.

It was the Beavers’ sixth straight victory.

David Lucas had 17 points and seven rebounds for the Beavers (10-3, 2-0 Pacific-10) who opened league play with two victories for the first time since 1992-93.

Rory O’Neil had 17 points and eight rebounds for the Trojans (7-6, 0-2), who have lost three of their last four games.

Trailing by as many as seven points in the second half, OSU narrowed it to 49-47 on Fontenet’s jumper.

That sparked a 14-4 run capped by Fontenet’s layup that made it 61-53 for Oregon State. Fontenet scored his 12 second-half points during the run.

The Trojans led for most of the first half after an early 8-0 run to go up 11-3, but the lead was short-lived and Oregon State narrowed it to 16-15 on Sasa Cuic’s 3-pointer.

Oregon St. 74, Southern California 64

Southern California (7-6, 0-2)–McMillan 6-11 0-0 12, O’Neil 8-14 0-2 17, Young 0-4 2-4 2, Stewart 5-12 0-0 14, Pruitt 4-7 0-0 9, Curtis 1-2 0-0 2, Guenther 0-2 2-4 2, Craen 2-4 1-1 6. Totals 26-56 5-11 64.

Oregon State (10-3, 2-0)–DeWitz 4-10 0-2 8, Cuic 5-9 4-6 16, Hurd 0-0 0-0 0, Fontenet 6-10 0-1 14, Nash 2-5 4-4 8, Hanchett 2-3 0-0 4, Stephens 1-3 4-4 7, Lucas 5-12 7-8 17, Jeffers 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-52 19-25 74.

Halftime–Southern California 35, Oregon State 31. 3-point goals–Southern California 7-19 (Stewart 4-9, O’Neil 1-2, Craven 1-2, Pruitt 1-3, Young 0-3), Oregon State 5-13 (Fontenet 2-3, Cuic 2-5, Stephens 1-1, Nash 0-1, DeWitz 0-3). Fouled out–None. Rebounds–Southern California 31 (McMillan 9), Oregon State 32 (Lucas 7). Assists–Southern California 12 (McMillan, Stewart, Pruitt 3), Oregon State 11 (Hurd, Fontenet, Lucas 3). Total fouls–Southern California 22, Oregon State 11. A–7,181.