Heartbreak marred the Oregon men’s first road game of the season as Vanderbilt’s Mario Moore sunk an off-balance, one-handed three-pointer as the buzzer sounded in front of 12,626 in Nashville, Tenn., to send the Commodores to a 76-75 victory over the Ducks Wednesday night.
“The kid throws up a 45-footer, there is nothing we can do about that,” Oregon coach Ernie Kent said. “I can’t fault my guys for that type of a shot – throwing it up at the buzzer and letting it go in.”
Oregon nearly had the game won when point guard Aaron Brooks made a high bank shot with 3.3 seconds remaining to break a tie at 73. Following a Vanderbilt timeout, Moore received the inbounds in the backcourt and ran down the right sideline before nailing the game-winner.
Oregon’s Malik Hairston scored a career-high 25 points with 10 rebounds, but it was his first-half performance that allowed the Ducks to gain a 35-30 halftime lead. Tied at 29 with just less than three minutes to go in the first half, Hairston scored eight straight points for the Ducks.
“Malik was awesome tonight,” Kent said. “Malik had a great, great game.”
The Ducks built a 10-point lead eight minutes into the second half, but Vanderbilt wouldn’t go away. The Commodores used a 17-5 run to gain their first lead of the second half with 6:27 remaining. Maarty Leunen answered with a three-pointer 10 seconds later and Bryce Taylor did the same nearly two minutes later to regain the lead for Oregon’s at 66-64.
Brooks, who finished with 15 points, scored seven of Oregon’s final nine points. Taylor added 13.
“This team grew up in the heat of the battle,” Kent said of the Ducks. “It tells me a lot about their character. They are going to be a good basketball team because they have tremendous character to fight through all of this.”
Vanderbilt made 76 percent of its field goals in the second half compared to Oregon’s 43 percent. The Commodores scored 17 points off 12 Ducks’ turnovers.
The Ducks host Georgetown Saturday at noon.
-Shawn Miller