Another game, another difficult loss for the No. 15 Oregon Ducks.
This time, the Ducks will have mostly themselves to blame.
Oregon twice lost leads – a sudden trend in recent losses – with major scoring droughts to end both halves and the Bears took advantage with the go-ahead three-point play by Ryan Anderson with 1:01 to play.
The Ducks still had opportunities down the stretch to win or tie the game but fell short for the fifth time in their last seven games, losing 63-61 on the road Thursday at once-struggling California.
The loss marks the Ducks’ seventh straight at Haas Pavilion and snaps the Golden Bears’ six-game losing streak that dated back to a Jan. 18 win at Oregon State.
And suddenly those late-game opportunities Oregon took advantage of so often earlier in the season have begun to fall by the wayside.
“It’s a little bit frustrating because you do everything right; you put yourself in position to win the game and you don’t close it out,” Oregon coach Ernie Kent said in a broadcast interview. “That’s on us and that’s something we’ve got to figure out really quick, because I feel like that’s three games now of our six losses that we should have won.”
The loss drops Oregon back to fifth in the Pac-10 at 20-6 overall and 8-6 in the Pac-10. The Ducks have an opportunity Saturday to climb back up to fourth when they face Stanford at Maples Pavilion.
“It is one or two baskets, unfortunately, and one or two games now,” Kent said. “We were putting those games away early in this season and we’ve not done that as of late. We need to make sure we understand we are not in that tournament. We’ve got work to do. We’ve got to keep fighting. “
This will be one game the Ducks likely will ask what could have been.
Oregon clung to a 61-59 lead with 4:29 remaining in the game but did not record a field goal the rest of the way, missing their last five shot attempts as well as two critical free throws by Malik Hairston that could have pushed the lead to four with 1:41 to play.
Following the missed free throws and a missed three-point attempt by Maarty Leunen, California’s Ayinde Ubaka drove past Bryce Taylor and assisted Anderson for the go-ahead three-point play as Leunen fouled out of the game. The Bears left the window open late with two missed free throws, but Oregon fell short on their final four shots including two, one by Taylor and a point-blank shot by Chamberlain Oguchi, on the final possession.
“You cannot get two better looks than that,” Kent said. “The ball just didn’t go in; we didn’t make the play and we had the looks to do it.”
The Ducks shot 41.1 percent for the game, led by Tajuan Porter’s 14 points. He led two other Ducks in double figures, including Aaron Brooks, who had 12 points and Bryce Taylor, who finished with 11. Cal finished 44.4 percent shooting led by 18 from Anderson and a career-high 16 points from freshman Patrick Christopher.
Oregon shot 48.1 percent in the second half after watching a 12-point first-half lead with 9:27 to go turn into a 20-point swing and a 35-27 deficit at half following six missed shots, no field goals and three turnovers by the Ducks in the final 6:08.
The Ducks eventually tied the game at 37 with 16:07 to play and led for the majority of the half, including by seven points at one stretch.
“They’re in position to have success,” said Kent, who called for more leadership from his three juniors and one senior starter. “You’ve got to step up and make free throws. You’ve got to step up and take open shots and knock them down. We just didn’t close out the game.”
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