The Oregon men’s basketball team trailed throughout most of its matchup with Stanford on Sunday but came through when it counted in a narrow 68-64 victory. @@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&KEY=&SPID=235&SPSID=4294@@
Junior forward E.J. Singler led the way for the Ducks (19-8, 10-5 Pac-12) with 20 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including 10 straight points in the last five minutes to give Oregon the lead for good. @@http://pac-12.org/SPORTS/BasketballM/Standings.aspx@@ @@http://www.ncaa.com/game/basketball-men/d1/2012/02/19/oregon-stanford#recap@@
“We just needed this win. We knew how much this meant for us,” Singler said in a post-game interview with Root Sports. “This was a big game for us, and we wanted to come out and win it.”
Stanford (18-9, 8-7 Pac-12) began the game on an 8-2 run, and never trailed throughout the first half. A Singler jumper with 22 seconds remaining in the half cut the margin to three, but the Cardinal still entered the break with the lead on the strength of a crisp 46.2 shooting percentage. @@http://www.cstv.com/gametracker/launch/gt_mbaskbl.html?event=1023355&school=cbs&sport=mbaskbl&camefrom=&startschool=&@@
Senior forward Jeremy Jacob opened the second half with a jumper to cut the lead to one, and a Devoe Joseph layup finally tied the game at 34 with 17:53 remaining. Still, the Ducks simply could not find a way over the hump, and Stanford pushed its lead back to five with 10:38 left.
It was then that both Singler and senior forward Olu Ashaolu took over. Ashaolu scored six straight points to help Oregon take its first lead, 52-51, with 9:00 remaining in regulation. The Cardinal would grab the lead right back and held it until the five-minute mark, when it was Singler’s turn to dominate the action. The junior from Medford, Ore., scored 10 straight points, including two three-pointers, and gave the Ducks a 66-64 lead they would not relinquish.
After several missed opportunities to tie the game, Stanford was forced to foul Joseph with just four seconds left. The senior guard drained both free throws, securing the 68-64 victory.
With Sunday’s victory, Oregon remains tied with Arizona for fourth in the Pac-12 standings. The Ducks return to action next Sunday in the second edition of the Civil War in Corvallis, Ore.