Maarty Leunen may have saved Oregon’s postseason chances.
The freshman from Redmond took a charge to get the
Ducks into overtime and hit a three-pointer in the extra period to give them the lead for good
as the Ducks beat Southern
California in overtime 94-87 at Los Angeles Sports Arena on Thursday night.
With 5.1 seconds left in
regulation with the score tied at 77, USC’s Gabriel Pruitt drove the length of the floor and made a runner with 1.5 seconds left,
but Leunen stepped in front of him and planted his feet, and the official waved the basket and called an offensive foul, erupting a chorus of boos from the sparse 2,779 in attendance.
“I saw him the whole way and saw he wasn’t going to pull up for the jumper, so I stepped in front of him,” Leunen told
590 KUGN. “He hit me pretty hard, but it was worth it.”
The game went into overtime and was tied at 84 when Leunen grabbed an offensive rebound
after Ray Schafer missed a
free throw. Oregon (14-12 overall, 6-11 Pacific-10 Conference) set the offense up again, and Leunen found himself wide open for a three-pointer and drained it to give Oregon an 87-84 lead over USC (11-17, 4-13).
“On that certain play the ball came to me and I was going to swing it to Aaron (Brooks), but
I caught it in rhythm and was
wide open,” Leunen said.
“Luckily I hit it.”
Oregon hit 5 of 6 free
throws down the stretch to seal the victory.
“We grew up through some
adversity,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. “We didn’t get rattled at the end of regulation
or in overtime and got a much-needed win.”
Encino, Calif., native Bryce Taylor played his first game near home since coming to Oregon and led a quintet of Duck scorers in double figures with 23 points, including 9 of 13 from the
free-throw line.
“It’s hard to go home and do what he did,” Kent said. “I was happy with the way he played.”
Brooks logged all 45 minutes on the court and chipped in 14 points, five rebounds, four assists, a steal and a blocked shot.
Malik Hairston also played well for Oregon, pitching in 19 points and six rebounds. Schafer added 11 points, four rebounds and two blocked shots.
The Ducks, now in the eighth and final spot in the Pac-10 Tournament, control their own destiny after No. 10 Washington destroyed California, and Washington State upset Stanford.
Oregon will clinch a spot in the tournament with either a win against UCLA or a Cal loss to Washington State on Saturday.
Kent said he would rather beat the Bruins Saturday so they don’t have to worry about the Washington State/Cal game.
“We need to beat UCLA and come through the front door,” Kent said. “Don’t get me wrong, though; I’ll take the back door.”
Oregon jumped on USC early, using a 10-0 run to take a 12-5 lead.
Taylor air-balled his first shot of the game, but hit back-to-back three-pointers during the run. Taylor scored 11 of his 23 points in the first half.
Despite shooting 50 percent in the first half, the Ducks let the Trojans hang around in the first half with
12 turnovers and tied the game at 28 with Lodrick Stewart’s three-pointer. The Ducks led at halftime, 38-36.

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