No. 12 Ducks Finish Exhibition Season With 86-57 Win Over Concordia

Tuesday, November 6

McArthur Court

7 p.m.

University of Oregon

Concordia (EX)

Photo by: Associated Press

No. 12 Ducks Finish Exhibition Season With 86-57 Win Over Concordia

11/06/07 | Men's Basketball

By: GoDucks.com

Eugene, Ore.-- Senior Maarty Leunen led Oregon with 18 points, and sophomore Joevan Catron had 16 points and seven rebounds, as the Ducks opened up a 49-24 lead at halftime and cruised to an easy 86-57 victory over Concordia University Monday night at McArthur court.

Leunen and Catron combined to shoot 13-17 from the field, and 3-4 from behind the 3-point line. “I thought we looked pretty good,” said Leunen. “We just need to fix a couple of things on defense, cut down on turnovers, and work on finishing the full 40 minutes.”

For the game, Oregon shot 58.6% from the field, while holding Concordia to 37.3% shooting, 7-25 from behind the arc, and only 9 first half field goals.

No Oregon player played for more than 28 minutes, as 11 different Oregon players saw action. “We need to look at combinations,” said head coach Ernie Kent. “We feel like we can play two or three different ways with two or three different groups. We're basically just trying to see who else can help us in the rotation with that veteran group.”

Among those who saw more playing time were freshman swingman Drew Viney, who hit his first career three point field goal, and redshirt freshman LeKendric Longmire, who finished the game with 11 points on 4-7 shooting.

Kent saw Longmire's play as a bright spot in the game. “His shot has improved so much since he got here. He's going to be one of those guys that worked himself into the rotation just because he's worked so hard.”

Oregon began the second half on a 10-1 run, holding the Cavaliers without a field goal for the first four minutes, but then Concordia began to find ways to put up points, outscoring Oregon by four in the last 16 minutes of the game.

“Defensively we have a lot of work to do,” said senior F Malik Hairston. “But we have a lot of potential to be a great basketball team. We have a lot more weapons than last year and we're very athletic. We just need to stay focused.”

Turnovers were a problem for both teams throughout, as Oregon had 23, 14 in the 2^nd half, while Concordia coughed it up 19 times. “I think the turnovers occur because of a lack of focus,” said Kent. “That's an area we need to clean up.”

For Concordia, Jesse Alvarez had game highs of nine assists and seven steals, while Matt Ochs had a game high eight rebounds, and also added eight points in 32 minutes of playing time.

Tajuan Porter scored 11, making his lone three point attempt, while also accumulating four assists and seven rebounds, tied for the team high with Catron. Oregon outrebounded Concordia 40-23 in the game, and kept them off the offensive glass for the entire first half.

The Ducks open the regular season this weekend at McArthur Court with the World Vision Invitational. Tip-off for the opening game against Pepperdine is set for 4 p.m.