One mistake was all it took for Oregon to capitalize.
Damyean Dotson poked the ball loose with five seconds left. After Dominic Artis tipped the ball ahead to a running Dotson, Dotson finished it off with a dunk with o.6 seconds remaining to give the Ducks the 70-68 overtime victory on the road over the Utah Utes.
It wasn’t the prettiest of games for Oregon but the Ducks refused to quit, avenging last season’s loss in Salt Lake City and opening the Pac-12 season with a victory.
Both teams came into the game in the top-three in scoring but were unable to get anything going offensively. They each struggled from the floor, both shooting 38 percent from the field and combining to shoot 22.8 from three-point territory.
Oregon turned the ball over 16 times and totaled just seven assists while Utah had 14 turnovers and 12 assists.
Richard Amardi led three Ducks in double-figures with 14 points while Artis contributed 12 points and Dotson finished with 11. Joseph Young and Mike Moser came into the game as Oregon’s top-two scorers by averaging 34 combined points but were held to a combined 12 points while shooting just 3-for-13 from the field on Thursday night.
Moser added 12 rebounds while Johnathon Loyd contributed eight points, three assists and two steals to help the Ducks remain perfect on the season.
Utah was led by the efforts of Jordan Loveridge and Delon Wright.
Loveridge totaled a game-high 21 points while adding five rebounds and three assists and Wright did what he does best by contributing in all facets of the game, finishing with 14 points, six rebounds, four blocks and two assists.
The excitement increased with 1:35 left in overtime.
Loyd got to the bucket but threw up a prayer of a layup that missed and after Utah corralled the rebound, Wright turned it into a score to give Utah the two-point lead.
On the next possession, Moser missed a contested three-pointer but after an offensive rebound by the Ducks, the offense was reset and Dotson made a reverse layup to tie the game at 68-all with 30 seconds left.
Utah inbounded the ball and after holding it for 24 seconds, the Utes called timeout to set up a final play with six seconds left. After receiving the inbounds pass in the post, Dallin Bachynski turned and passed the ball to Loveridge but it never reached him as the ball was tipped in Oregon’s favor.
The final score was proof of how close the game was between both teams. Each team made 17 free throws while Oregon held a 41-38 rebounding advantage but Utah held the blocks advantage 9-3. Oregon committed 16 fouls to the Utes’ 14 but totaled 11 steals to Utah’s 10.
The game began with a bucket by Amardi but Utah responded in front of the energized home crowd by reeling off a 10-0 run to take the eight-point lead with 13:33 left to play in the first half.
The Ducks continued to play catch-up the rest of the half but a deep three-pointer by Young tied the game at 21-all with 4:18 left to play. Not to be outdone, the Utes responded with an 11-7 run as Loveridge contributed seven of the team’s 11 points to give Utah a 32-28 lead at the break.
Utah began the second half by slowly extending the lead, the largest of which came at the 13:44 mark when Dakarai Tucker drilled a three-pointer for the 45-35 lead.
Oregon responded by ramping up the defensive pressure and finding easy baskets on the other side of the court. The Ducks forced the Utes into shooting 1-for-8 over the next 6:44 as they went on an 18-4 run to take a 53-49 lead.
Utah responded by taking a 62-60 lead but two Dotson free throws by the Ducks had the scored tied with 27 seconds left. Loveridge got a wide-open look from the three-point line for the win but the ball bounced off the back rim as the buzzer sounded to force overtime.
Follow Ryan Kostecka on Twitter @Ryan_Kostecka