Oregon Basketball: Ducks Get Past Texas Southern
Oregon Basketball played a sloppy game but came through in the end with Troy Brown in the final minute to beat Texas Southern.
The Oregon Ducks were looking to continue their momentum following their win vs Colorado State. Texas Southern has played all of their games on the road so far, and their latest stop was Matthew Knight Arena. Oregon needed to take care of the ball and outrebound the Tigers.
Texas Southern opened the scoring off an Elijah Brown foul to take an early 3-0 lead. The Ducks missed their first opportunity missing a 3-pointer followed by a turnover. Payton Pritchard hit back to back three point shots pulling the Ducks ahead 6-5 early. Oregon was winning the turnover battle early, picking up 6 points off 3 early TSU turnovers.
After committing two turnovers, Eric Bruce gave Texas Southern the lead 15-14. Oregon was allowing the Tigers to stick around early with a 3-second violation and several costly turnovers. TSU went on a 9-0 run while the Ducks went 0 for 6 in a five-minute span. The Tigers led 17-14 as Dana Altman called a timeout.
Oregon held Texas Southern to a scoring drought to tie the game with 2:33 remaining in the first half. Kenny Wooten had two key blocks in the first half including a key block before Wooten scored on the other end and was fouled. He helped Oregon regain the lead 26-24. Paul White used quick feet to add a rebound basket for a four-point lead.
Texas Southern was not going away pulling to within a point, 32-31 with a three-pointer before the 1st Half buzzer. Both teams shot less than 40 percent from the floor.
MiKyle McIntosh scored his 1000th career point and Oregon started to pull away in the first four minutes of the second half hitting several three-point shots led by Victor Bailey Jr. to take a 42-31 lead.
With just under 15 minutes left, TSU was finding foul trouble with 12 personal fouls. Trayvon Reed had 4, including a technical, Marquis Salmon had 3.
For Oregon, Troy Brown was having an off night. The Freshman was 0 for 7 from the floor and 0 for 2 from three-point range with just over 11 minutes left in the game. Derrick Bruce pulled TSU within 5 with just under 10 minutes left before Kenny Wooten scored. Texas Southern scored on four of their previous five possessions. It was a back and forth battle in the final 10 minutes.
Oregon led by two, 64-62 with just under 4 minutes to go. Troy Brown added two points for a total of 4 on the night before the Ducks took a timeout. Oregon again started to pull away with 2 minutes to go. Paul White extended the Oregon lead to 69-64. Kenny Wooten had the block of the game on the ensuing TSU possession before Clark hit a jump shot.
Troy Brown hit a two-point shot and a three-pointer on the next two possessions to put the game away for Oregon, 74-68.
Next: Business As Usual, Oregon Preps For Boise State
The Oregon Ducks played better in the second half, but have work to do. Up next, another quick turnaround and a Phil Knight Invitational team, Portland State on Wednesday night at 7 pm Pacific Time at Matthew Knight Arena.