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USC 79, Oregon St. 45

Posted: Saturday March 02, 2002 11:34 PM

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LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Sam Clancy scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds in his final home game as No. 20 Southern California tuned up for the Pac-10 Conference tournament with a 79-45 rout of Oregon State.

"Once the game was over, I realized it's the last I will play in this building," Clancy said.

Freshman guard Errick Craven had 20 points, eight rebounds and seven steals and sophomore forward Desmon Farmer added 17 points and six boards as the Trojans (20-8, 12-6 Pac-10) avoided their third straight loss and closed out their regular season.

"I wanted to show (coach Henry) Bibby I was ready for the tournament. I wasn't doing it the last couple of games," said Farmer, who also had three of Southern California's 18 steals in his 20 minutes.

"It was pleasant to see Desmon step up and play," Bibby said. "He's really been shooting the ball well in practice and he's been in the gym extra -- it really paid off." USC, which jumped out to an early lead and led 40-19 at halftime, enters the conference tournament as the fourth seed and will face fifth-seeded Stanford on Thursday.

Philip Ricci chipped in 19 points for the Beavers (12-17, 4-14), who lost for the eighth time in the last 10 games and fell to USC for 11th time in their last 12 meetings. Oregon State ended its season after failing to qualify for the eight-team postseason tournament.

"Coach said he was to blame. I thought we didn't come out ready to play and weren't focused," said Ricci, who also had 11 rebounds.

USC was defensive-minded from the outset, holding the Beavers to 5-of-21 shooting (24 percent) in the opening half and 30 percent (14-of-47) overall.

The Trojans shot 41 percent (33-of-81) from the field, hoisting 26 3-point attempts and hitting eight. They also enjoyed a 54-36 advantage on the glass and forced 22 turnovers while committing 11.

"USC dominated us in every way of the game," Oregon State coach Ritchie McKay said. "They were hungrier than we were and much more prepared to win." .