Boogie Ellis scores in his career as USC’s late rally against strong Arizona

Over the past two weeks, when things finally started to fall into place for USC, the glue was Boogie Ellis, a once-striped point guard who finally proved himself to be the engine of a suddenly soaring attack.

But when those pieces began to rip apart for USC on Thursday, the senior point guard was left alone to pull off a stuttering offense, knocking down one three-pointer after another and draining his tank until only fumes remained. It wouldn’t be enough as USC eventually collapsed in an 87-81 loss to Arizona.

An otherwise lifeless offense wouldn’t stop Ellis from pushing the Trojans away. He set up another career high, scoring 35 points and beating six threes.

But it was no use. With each reaction, Arizona will deliver his own full response, using all of his guns to overwhelm USC, now seeded No. 3 for next week’s Pac-12 tournament.

Meanwhile, the Trojans were left with only Ellis, who had little help. With a back injury, Drew Peterson finished with only five points. Of the USC starters, only Kobe Johnson has achieved more.

It wasn’t the kind of performance the Trojans were hoping for, with a chance to make a big statement on their tournament resume.

Everything clicked for USC next Thursday. The Trojans rolled into the final week of the regular season on a four-game winning streak, eventually shooting all guns and sitting on the right side of the NCAA tournament bubble.

They burned from the depths during that stretch, hitting nearly half of their last 100 attempts from three-point range. They dominated on defense, holding these four opponents to 37% shooting. And their senior point guard played the best basketball of his college career just as it was winding down.

But this week, Ellis still couldn’t shake the bitter aftertaste of USC’s loss in Tucson. He promised to become more aggressive and turn the Trojans on his back.

Ellis came out confident and scored 11 of USC’s first 16 points.

The problem for USC was that no one else showed up. Peterson, the Trojans’ second best scorer, had zero points going into halftime. The rest of USC’s starting lineup shot one of nine together.

And at that point, Ellis’ aggressive actions had had unintended consequences. He recorded his third foul with over two minutes remaining in the first half.

USC had no answer to Arizona’s size, even as it raced through several series in search of one. Arizona’s Azuolas Tubelis was victorious with the Trojans’ frontcourt, forcing USC to further modify its approach. Tubelis finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds, once again penalizing USC on all levels of its defense.

The Trojans could face the Wildcats again soon, with Arizona ranked No. 2 in the conference tournament. They need more than Ellis to make the statement they wanted to make Thursday night.