Ducks Edge USC For Third Straight Pac-12 Victory

Thursday, January 19

Eugene, Ore.

5:30 PM

University of Oregon

USC

Photo by: Eric Evans/GoDucks.com

01/20/12 | Men's Basketball

By: GoDucks.com

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) - Oregon's Garrett Sim scored 20 points and the Ducks made five 3-pointers in the second half to hold off USC, 65-62, Thursday.

Devoe Joseph also scored 16 points and Olu Ashaolu added 11 points - nine in the first half - for Oregon (14-5, 5-2 Pac-12), which is off to its best start since going 18-1 in 2006-07.

Maurice Jones scored 20 points for the Trojans (5-14, 0-6), who haven't been winless this deep into conference play since opening 0-12 in 1989.

Dewayne Dedmon also had a season-high 18 points and a game-high seven rebounds for USC.

The Ducks led just 30-28 at halftime against the Pac-12's stingiest defense (57.8 points allowed per game), and never were able to build more than a eight-point lead in the second half.

Oregon was up just 56-54 with 2:40 to play following a three-point play by Dedmon. But Joseph answered with a 3 -pointer for the Ducks to make it 59-54.

The Ducks finished off the game going 6-for-6 from the free-throw line in the last 1:40, including a pair by Joseph with 17.3 seconds left to make it 65-62.

The Trojans had a chance to tie but Jones' 3-point attempt fell short.

Oregon (14-5, 5-2) will face UCLA on Saturday at 1 p.m. (PT).

POSTGAME NOTES

- Oregon improved to 13-1 this season when having a better shooting percentage than the opponent. The Ducks are 12-1 when they hold a halftime advantage. UO is 11-0 when dishing out more assists than the opponent. Oregon is 9-0 in games decided by fewer than 10 points.

- The Ducks' reserves out-scored USC's bench, 18-6.

- Garrett Sim led the team in scoring for the sixth time this season. Sim had a team-high 20 points, the third time this season he's tallied 20+ points. It was the 13th time this season he's reached double-figures in scoring.

- Devoe Joseph reached double-figures in scoring for the fifth straight game. It was the 12th time in 13 games this season Joseph has gone for 10 or more.

- E.J. Singler was limited to four points snapping a streak of nine straight games he has reached double-figures in scoring. Singler fouled out for the first time this season (fifth career disqualification by fouls).

- Olu Ashaolu scored nine of his 11 points in the first half. It was the sixth time this season Ashaolu has scored 10 or more points (Oregon is 5-1 this year in those games).