Ducks Do It All in 78-56 Blowout Win Over Rival Beavers, Complete Regular Season Sweep of Oregon State
The Ducks took home an important win on Saturday night in Eugene. Here's how all the action unfolded.
First Half
Both teams got off to a quick offensive start. N’Faly Dante was running the court as usual and got the uncontested slam for the first points of the game. Oregon State’s Jerod Lucas got five quick points to give his team a 7-5 lead.
The rivalry game turned into a brick-fest soon after, as both defenses stepped up. Lucas had three steals in the first seven minutes for the Beavers; Dante and Franck Kepnang had three blocks for the Ducks in the same time.
It was the Ducks who broke their cold streak first. Their starting backcourt found ideal shots: De’vion Harmon pulled up on the elbow to make it a two-point game, and Will Richardon made some moves on the elbow for the three and the lead. Richardson connected on a floater after a media timeout, and the Ducks were cruising on an 8-0 run and a 16-12 lead.
Oregon vs. Oregon State
Then, Jacob Young woke up Matthew Knight Arena all by himself. He scored a second-chance layup, then on the very next possession started running the fast break himself and finished it off with a circus style and-one layup. Just a minute later, Young was euro-stepping through the lane again, this time opting for the floater for his seventh points of the night.
Oregon State was just one step behind Oregon for the rest of the first. Oregon’s full-court press was giving Oregon State hell, and they turned the ball over three times in one minute. Eric Williams Jr. closed out the half with a sweet buzzer beater for the Ducks, chucking up a one-handed shot at the buzzer from well behind the half court line, banking it in off the class to send the crowd into a freny. Williams and the Ducks were ecstatic, running and jumping off the court with a 44-25 lead.
Second Half
It was Harmon versus the Beavs to start the second half. The transfer guard hit two three-pointers to single-handedly match OSU’s point total after three minutes. He got some help from two people: Oregon Football Head Coach Dan Lanning, who had the Oregon faithful fired up with his first “Shout” experience, and Richardson, who hit a jumper and grabbed a fast-break assist to give Oregon the 57-36 lead.
The Beavs got a little run going. They kept the Ducks scoreless for two minutes straight, and Lucas knocked down another three for his 12th points of the game. But it wasn’t long until Richardson absolutely lost his defender on a step-back three to make it a 19-point lead and to reinvigorate the Duck crowd.
Dante started to put together one of his better performances of the season, notching nine points on perfect shooting, five offensive rebounds and 10 rebounds overall, three blocks and two steals. Kepnang and Quincy Guerrier each had two blocks of their own, and the team totaled nine steals in a strong defensive showing.
Oregon was in full time-wasting mode with three minutes left to play, but the Ducks made sure to close out strong, as Harmon finished acrobatically at the rim to extend Oregon's lead to 22 points lead the last bucket of the game. The Ducks finished the job, winning 78-56.
Young led Oregon with 17 points, four rebounds and four assists; while Roman Silva contributed 17 and six boards for OSU.
You may also like:
IMPACT + EVAL: New Oregon commit Khamari Terrell
Join the Community
Follow Graham on Twitter: @GrahamMetzker
Subscribe to our free newsletter to get the latest Oregon Ducks news sent to your inbox
Join the discussion on our forums HERE
