Corvallis, OR – The Oregon Ducks came into Corvallis knowing that with a win over Oregon State they would win the Pac-12 regular season title. Oregon played efficiently on offense throughout the game and coasted to an 80-67 win to clinch the conference title. Will Richardson played his best game of the season, leading the game with 22 points. He connected on 6-of-7 three-pointers and added three rebounds and three assists.
Eugene Omoruyi added 18 points, all in the second half, and made 3-of-4 3s. All Oregon starters finished in double-figures with Eric Williams Jr. being particularly effective. Williams Jr. scored 14 points and added six rebounds and five assists while shooting 4-of-6 from deep as he led the Ducks with a +22-point differential while he was on the court. Chris Duarte (10 points, six assists) and LJ Figueroa (10 points, five rebounds) also contributed. Ethan Thompson led the Beavers with 16 points, 15 coming in the second half.
Oregon shot effectively throughout the game hitting 57 percent from the field including an excellent 65 percent (15-of-23) on three-pointers. Oregon State shot 52 percent from the field but only 4-of-17 from deep. The teams battled evenly on the boards (25 rebounds each) and turnovers were about even as well (Oregon -11, Oregon State – 10.
Oregon came out of the gates with quite a bit of energy and executed their offense very efficiently. They took an early 7-1 lad on a Richardson three-pointer and extended the lead to 26-10 after an 8-0 run. The Beavers fought back and cut the lead the five (27-22) on an Warith Alatishe (14 points, seven rebounds) layup. That was as close as they got as the Ducks went on a 16-6 run to extend their lead back to 16 points. Featured in that run were five three-pointers, three by Richardson, the last a 25-footer that banked in. Oregon took a 44-31 lead into halftime.
Richardson was red-hot connecting on all five of his three-point attempts and scoring 17 points. Figueroa added 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting. Oregon shot 62 percent from the field including 8-of-12 on 3s. Omoruyi, the Ducks’ second leading scorer was limited to five minutes of action due to foul trouble. Jarod Lucas (12 points) and Alatishe did their best to keep the Beavers in the game. Lucas scored 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting, connecting on two three-pointers. Alatishe connected of all five of his field goal attempts and led the Beavers with 11 points at the half.
Oregon State’s 7-1 center, Roman Silva (10 points, six rebounds, 5-of-6 FG) hit three shots early in the half helped by some extra room after Omoruyi picked up his third personal foul. That cut Oregon’s lead to ten, but Omoruyi came back with a 3 to extend the lead to 54-41. Omoruyi scored ten points in the first ten minutes of the half with his second of two 3s extending Oregon’s lead to 60-46. Oregon continued to shoot effectively from deep (7-of-11 3s in the half) which helped to maintain their lead. The Beavers could only get to within eight points the rest of the way. Omoruyi clinched the game with a three-pointer to extend the lead to 15 with under two minutes remaining.
Oregon (19-5, 14-4) gets the top seed in the Pac-12 tournament and will play the winner of the game between the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds on Thursday at 11;30am. Oregon State (14-12, 10-10) will also skip the first day of the tournament, coming in as the No. 5 seed and will face the No. 4 seed on Thursday.
This article was written by Carl Berman, Managing Partner of NetScouts Basketball. You can follow us on Facebook, or on twitter.
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