Oregon Ducks Out Pace and Out Play Oregon State
The Oregon Ducks entered the matchup with Oregon State looking to keep their home record perfect and did with a statement win over their in state rival on Saturday night.
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The Oregon State Beavers were looking for a signature win over a Pac-12 Conference opponent to help boost their RPI for a chance to make the NCAA Tournament. For Oregon, also playing for Tournament hopes, the win means more. Usually when you defend your home court for the entire season, it works out in the end. If Oregon can win out the rest of the season with Oregon State, Washington State and Washington remaining, they could be in line for a top seed in the NCAA Tournament.
A sellout crowd of over 12,000 was on hand at Matthew Knight Arena for the Saturday night matchup that would feature Gary Payton from the Beavers and Dillon Brooks from Oregon. Brooks has led the team in scoring in almost every game this season.
Oregon State would strike first, but Gary Payton II would find himself in foul trouble before the midway point of the first half with two early fouls. Tyler Dorsey and Elgin Cook picked up the scoring early for the Oregon Ducks who led 6-5 with just over 15 minutes remaining in the first half.
Casey Benson would hit a jump shot followed by a steal and basket by Dwayne Benjamin brought the sellout crowd to a roar as Oregon took a 5 point lead with just over 11 minutes left in the first half. Oregon would go on a run hitting five of seven to extend their lead to 10 points. The Ducks would roll off 10 straight before Oregon State hit a shot inside the paint pushing their lead to 38-20.
Elgin Cook and Tyler Dorsey would find double figures by halftime and Chris Boucher was on his way to a double double. At the break Oregon led Oregon State 51-28. The Ducks would get the ball to start the second half.
"We had a decent week of practice, didn’t want to make a big deal about last weekend….it was disappointing, I was hoping we would come back and play focused and alert and I thought they did a really good job.Oregon Head Coach Dana Altman on the Win Over Oregon State"
Oregon State would pull within 17 in the second half, but Oregon kept pace and led 67-45 with just over 11 minutes left in the game. Tyler Dorsey would continue with his hot hand hitting 9 of 15 from the floor and lead Oregon with 23 points. The Oregon Ducks would make their free throws down the stretch hitting at over 89 percent on the night. Chris Boucher was one rebound shy of a double double.
The Ducks built a 24 point lead with just over 4 minutes left in the game. The Beavers went on a 15-1 run over the final four minutes of the game to make it look closer than it was for a 91-81 final score. It was the statement game that Oregon needed following two road losses last week.
Next: Oregon Women Fall To Bruins
The Pac-12 Regular season comes to a close with Washington State on Wednesday night at 7pm and Washington next Sunday before the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas.