University of Oregon
New Mexico
Brooks' Career Night Leads Ducks Past Lobos
11/22/04 | Men's Basketball
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) Aaron Brooks scored a career-high 22 points and freshman Malik Hairston converted three free throws in the final 22 seconds as Oregon held on for a 79-75 victory Monday night against New Mexico.
Reserve guard Jordan Kent made his first five shots and 6-of-8 overall en route to a career-high 14 points, while Ian Crosswhite had 12 and Bryce Taylor and Hairston scored 11 each.
Danny Granger led the Lobos (4-1) with 19 points and 15 rebounds, while Alfred Neale had 15. It was New Mexico's 27th straight road loss.
Hairston went to the line with 22 seconds left and Oregon nursing a slim 75-73 lead. He sank both to put the Ducks up by four.
Then with just under seven seconds, Hairston scored on the second of two attempts to again put the Ducks back up by four, 79-75, giving Oregon a two-shot lead.
Brooks, who also had a team-high eight assists and six rebounds, made four of the Ducks' (2-0) eight 3-pointers.
A 7-0 run by Oregon built its lead to 61-52, but New Mexico fought back, eventually closing the gap to 65-64 with under seven minutes to play. David Chiotti had the chance to give the Lobos the lead, but the Lobo center missed a pair of free-throw attempts and the Ducks followed with an 8-0 run to rebuild their lead to 73-64 with less than three minutes left in the game.
A 3-pointer by Neale near the end of the first half gave the Lobos a 43-41 advantage at the break.
Granger had 14 of his points in the first half, as he made 6-of-11 shots to go with eight rebounds. Brooks scored 13 in the first half, nine coming on three 3-pointers, as Oregon opened the game shooting 56 percent from the field.
