No. 12 Ducks Down Saint Martin's in Exhibition Opener, 101-58

Friday, November 2

McArthur Court

7 p.m.

University of Oregon

101

St. Martin's (EX)

Photo by: Associated Press

No. 12 Ducks Down Saint Martin's in Exhibition Opener, 101-58

11/02/07 | Men's Basketball

By: GoDucks.com

EUGENE, Ore -- The Oregon men's basketball team opened the exhibition season with a 101-58 win over the Saint Martin's Saints Friday night in front of a crowd of 8,511 at McArthur Court.

“It was nice to play someone, just to be able to look at the tape and see things to work on,” said Coach Ernie Kent, whose charges debuted at No. 12 in the Associated Press preseason poll that was released Friday. “There were some things that we need to work on. The 20 turnovers were too many, but it was just nice to get a game under our belts.”

The Ducks were led by senior Guard Bryce Taylor, who made his first seven shots from the field, including three from beyond the arc, to race to 18 first-half points and 20 for the game on 8-of-9 shooting.

“We have been beating up ourselves. It was nice to finally go out and play someone.”

The Ducks used a 17-0 run early in the first half to turn a 4-6 deficit into a 21-6 advantage. On the night, Oregon shot 56.9% from the field (37-65) and 76% (19-25) from the free throw stripe.

Sophomore guard Tajuan Porter added 12 points and tallied four of the Ducks' 15 steals, while senior Maarty Leunen led the team with 10 rebounds and two blocked shots.

Freshman Kamyron Brown and redshirt freshman LeKendric Longmire had stand-out performances in their Duck debuts. Brown scored 12 points with a team-leading five steals in 28 minutes of action.

“I was really impressed with Kamyron,” said Kent. “He's got a chance to be real good at this level.”

Longmire finished second on the team with 14 points on 6-9 shooting from the field.

“I was trying patiently to read the defender and let the game come to me,” said Longmire. “It felt really good to go out and play.”

Jake Linton led the Saints with 16 points, while Brendan Campbell and Bill Richardson contributed 10 each.

The Ducks scored 38 points off 28 Saint Martin's turnovers and outrebounded the Saints 38-32. Oregon also scored 50 points in the paint to the Saints' 14.

14 Ducks saw the floor and 13 contributed to the scoring.

“We wanted to get a lot of bodies on the floor and get everyone into the game, and I'm glad we had the opportunity to do that,” said Kent.

Oregon will take the floor next in its second and final exhibition contest Tuesday night at 7 p.m. against Concordia.