In a city where runs are key, the Ducks fought off a late one to prevail and stay alive in the Pac-12 Tournament.

The No. 4 seeded Oregon Ducks barely came out with a win over the No. 5 seeded UCLA Bruins in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Tournament on Thursday in Las Vegas. Oregon relied on the heroics of N’Faly Dante, who finished with 22 points and six rebounds, to escape with a win in a competitive matchup. UCLA struggled with foul trouble all game, which eventually proved too much for the Bruins to handle down the stretch and led to their demise.

The Ducks found it difficult to find the bottom of the basket early in the contest. Jermaine Cousinard — who finished the game with 10 points — made a jump shot to open the scoring for Oregon, but it would be the only points for the Ducks through the first five minutes. On the defensive end, Oregon was able to force four turnovers from the Bruins in the opening minutes to keep the score close despite trailing 6-2.

Dante and Cousinard were able to finally break the Ducks out of their slump with a pair of baskets to give Oregon its first lead of the game, 8-6. UCLA found itself in foul trouble very early on, leading to star center Adem Bona being forced to the bench with two fouls just six minutes into the contest.

The Ducks’ offensive struggles came back in full force right after the pair of baskets. The shot from Dante would be the last field goal made by Oregon for over six minutes as the Bruins were able to take the lead right back to go up 16-10 with eight minutes left in the first half.

Jackson Shelstad made a 3-pointer — the first by either team — with seven minutes to play in the first half. However, UCLA’s Sebastian Mack responded immediately with a shot from deep of his own to keep the Ducks playing from behind.

Oregon made a late push to try and take the lead late in the first half. Shelstad and Kwame Evans Jr. scored back-to-back baskets to cut into the lead, making the score 29-26 with two minutes to play. A 3-pointer from each team late in the half made the score at the break 34-29 in favor of the Bruins.

Despite awful shooting from the field for most of the first half, Oregon was able to stay competitive thanks to stellar defense — which led to seven turnovers forced by the Ducks through 16 minutes played. Dante was the only Oregon player to shoot over 50% from the field in the first frame as he led the Ducks in scoring in the opening half with nine points.

“We didn’t shoot it well, we didn’t play well, we didn’t shoot free throws well and we’re down five,” Oregon head coach Dana Atlman said about the halftime discussion. “We’ve got lots of time left, but we’re gonna have to execute some things, get some stops. We’re gonna have to play better.”

Oregon got started quickly on offense in the second half. The Ducks scored on their first three offensive possessions to cut their deficit to just one point. Jadrian Tracey was able to score after snagging an offensive rebound to give Oregon the lead back just over three minutes into the half.

The referees in the game wasted no time showing that the second half would be just like the first. Seven total fouls — four on the Ducks and three on the Bruins — were called in the first five minutes of the half. Bona, who did not reenter the first half after his two quick fouls, found himself on the bench early once again after picking up his third of the game.

Bona’s absence for UCLA opened up the paint for Oregon. Dante was able to get a couple easy baskets in the paint to help the Ducks maintain their lead. Oregon led 46-40 eight minutes into the second half. The Ducks finished the game with 38 points in the paint. The advantage inside was the driving factor in Oregon’s ability to keep the lead.

Dante’s dominance in the paint continued to be the driving factor in the Ducks’ ability to keep the lead. He made an and-one layup that put Bona back on the bench halfway through the second half. That layup was the first basket in what turned into an 8-0 run for Oregon to give Altman’s squad a 57-49 advantage with just over seven minutes left in the game.

“They’ve been physical with him all year and he just keeps fighting,” Altman said about Dante’s play. “He made some good reads on double-teams. We had a couple good cuts there where we got a couple easy layups off of double-teams.”

A few minutes later, Dante found Shelstad on a cut to the basket to give Oregon a 10-point lead — the first double-digit advantage of the game for either team. With just over four minutes left in the game, the Ducks held a 63-53 lead.

The Bruins wouldn’t go down without a fight, however. They responded with a 9-0 run to cut the lead to just one point with less than two minutes left in the game. The Oregon offense completely fell apart late in the contest as UCLA took advantage of every misstep while closing the gap.

The game came down to free throws, and the Ducks were able barely to survive after a missed buzzer-beater from the Bruins’ Dylan Andrews — the game’s leading scorer with 24 points. The final result was 68-66 with Oregon moving on.

“The second half we regained our composure,” Altman said. “We did things you have to do. We were down five on the boards at half, and we ended up winning by one, so we beat them by six in the second half.”

The Ducks will face the Arizona Wildcats at 5:00 p.m. tomorrow night.