Civil War Rematch Goes To Oregon

Thursday, February 27

Eugene, OR

8:00 PM

University of Oregon

22-7,11-5Pac-12

Oregon State

15-13,5-11Pac-12

Oregon St.

Oregon

02/27/20 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Oregon 69, Oregon State 54

The No. 14 Ducks led most of the night to beat Oregon State in Matthew Knight Arena on Thursday, 69-54.

By: Rob Moseley

EUGENE, Ore. — Oregon is back on top in the Civil War rivalry and back on top of the Pac-12 standings after a 69-54 victory Thursday over Oregon State before 10,098 fans in Matthew Knight Arena.

Despite the absence of leading defender Chris Duarte due to hand surgery earlier in the day, the Ducks allowed their fewest points of the season in Pac-12 play, and also committed a season-low four turnovers to end a three-game losing streak to the Beavers. Helped by UCLA's win over Arizona State, the No. 14 Ducks (22-7, 11-5) are tied for first with the Bruins atop the Pac-12, and can secure a share of the conference title with two wins to close out the regular season.

"We've just got to take care of our business," said senior guard Anthony Mathis, who replaced Duarte in the lineup Thursday. "We can't worry about everybody else. We've got to get better as a team. We've still got work to do."

How It Happened: Play was uneven for much of the night, with neither team shooting better than 40 percent in the first half and the Ducks prevailing despite shooting 41.3 percent overall (26-of-63). But a 17-2 run early in the second half broke open the game for Oregon, which lost in Corvallis on Feb. 8 despite leading by 10 just after halftime.

Mathis got the Ducks going early, with a floater for Oregon's first basket and a three-pointer on the next possession for the first UO lead at 5-3. Consecutive three-pointers by Payton Pritchard made it 11-7, and a three-point play by Shakur Juiston put the Ducks up 14-8. Ethan Thompson got hot from three-point range to help OSU rally into the lead at 21-19, but Mathis responded with back-to-back threes for Oregon and Pritchard scored just before halftime to put the Ducks in front 29-25.

The first basket of the game from Will Richardson got the Ducks on the board first in the second half, with his three-pointer making it 32-25. The lead was still seven, at 34-27, when Oregon broke the game open with its 17-2 run. The key possession began with an Addison Patterson bucket for a 42-28 lead; he missed an and-one attempt, but the Ducks grabbed one of their 16 offensive rebounds and Pritchard hit a three for a five-point possession and a 45-28 lead. Richardson capped the 17-2 run with another three-pointer, and he hit yet another moments later for Oregon's biggest lead of the night, 58-35.

Who Stood Out: Pritchard finished with 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting, including 5-of-9 from three-point range. Richardson rebounded from an 0-of-6 start to finish with 15 points on 6-of-14 shooting, and Mathis added 13 points.

Francis Okoro led the Ducks with six rebounds, a welcome presence after he missed the first Civil War matchup of this season. And the Ducks also welcomed back freshman big man N'Faly Dante from a nine-game absence, for five minutes of action.

"Hopefully he'll have a good week here and be ready to go a lot more (next) Thursday night," UO coach Dana Altman said. "Cal's got good size; Stanford killed us inside last time we played them. So it would be really nice to get him going this week and have him ready."

What It Means: Along with retaking the lead in the conference standings, the Ducks have earned themselves 48 hours of rest — Altman told the team earlier this week it could have Friday and Saturday off with a win Thursday night.

"You've got to motivate them some way," the UO coach said with a wry smile. "They don't have to see me for two days; they're pretty fired up about that."

Up Next: The Ducks kick off the final weekend of the regular season by hosting Cal on Thursday (8 p.m., ESPN2).