Eugene, OR – In front of 9,213 fans at Mathew Knight Arena, the No. 9- ranked Oregon Ducks held off multiple rallies by the Arizona State Sun Devils to secure a 78-69 victory. Payton Pritchard bounced back from a subpar shooting performance against Arizona on Thursday night to tie his career high with 29 points. He went 6-for-9 from the 3-point line and added six assists to lead the Ducks to a sweep of the Arizona schools.
Oregon jumped out to a quick lead by hitting four of their first five 3-point shots. They ended the first half shooting a solid 50 percent from the 3-point line going 9-of-18 to put the Ducks up 40-31. Oregon shot well in the first half, but had several unforced errors as they turned the ball over eight times to help keep the Sun Devils close.
Chris Duarte and Shakur Juiston were big contributors in keeping the Sun Devils at bay. Duarte a junior, went 4-for-8 from beyond the arc and finished with 20 points and six rebounds. He was in attack mode throughout the contest by not only hitting 3-pointers, but his quick first step ability got him to finish at the hoop several times. Juiston had a solid performance and his best since the Bahamas tourney in November. The 6-7 forward scored 11 points (5-for-6 FG) and had a team high nine rebounds. He had a bounce in his step tonight as he was crashing the boards and dunked with authority.
Remy Martin kept the Sun Devils within reach throughout the game. He used his quickness to attack often and to hit pull up jumpers. In addition, the 6-0 junior made some tough buckets through traffic around the hoop. He played 37 minutes, scored 29 points (9-of-21) to keep pace with Oregon’s star Pritchard. Martin added six assists and three rebounds.
One area where the Sun Devils excelled on the night was bench scoring. They outscored the Ducks 24-10 due to the aggressive presence of Jaelen House and Rob Edwards. House, a freshman, tallied nine points on 3-for-6 shooting. He was given the tasks to try and slow down Pritchard in which he played close defense. House is the son of former Arizona State standout Eddie House. Edwards added 11 points on 4-of-10 shooting.
Oregon (14-3) will travel to Pullman to face the Washington State (10-7) on the 16th of January. Arizona State (10-6) returns home to take on Colorado (12-3).
This article was written by Chad Mart, a correspondent and scout for NetScouts Basketball. You can follow us on Facebook, or on twitter.
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