March 14, 2013; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Washington Huskies guard Andrew Andrews (12) shoots against Oregon Ducks center Tony Woods (55) Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
There is something to be said about leadership on a team and on Thursday night, Senior leadership stepped up for the Oregon Ducks(24-8, 12-6 Pac 12). Throughout the game there was plenty of back and forth, to start the Washington Huskies (18-15, 9-9 Pac 12)went on an 11-0 run and hit 13 of 27 shots in the first half. Oregon answered with a run of it’s own to tie the game just before halftime. The Huskies continues to fight through the second half which led to overtime.
Senior Arsalan Kazemi did not have the best night leading up to the extra session.
"“I just didn’t think he was very sharp. But I thought he made big plays down the stretch.”Oregon Head Coach Dana Altman on Arsalan Kazemi’s play"
In overtime Kazemi answered with 11 of his 19 points, 6 of them in a row. The Ducks won 80-77 to move on to the Semifinal round. For the Ducks Senior Tony Woods had a career high 19 points, Freshman Damyean Dotson added 17 and Freshman Dominic Artis was back in the starting rotation, he played 18 minutes and ran the floor. He did not score.
Oregon would have faced California, but they stumbled against Utah on Thursday afternoon losing 79-69. The Ducks will get the Utes again for the second time in less than a week.
Tournament play is always interesting and fun to watch. Arizona State and UCLA went down to the wire on Thursday afternoon. The Bruins won 80-75 and will face Arizona in the first semifinal tonight(6pm PT Pac 12). The Ducks meet Utah in the second game this evening, another late one folks – 8:30(PT) on ESPN for a chance to go to the Pac 12 Championship game on Saturday.
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