In Oregon’s first overtime game of the season, the Ducks scrambled to a win after blowing an 18-point second-half lead to keep their hopes alive for an NCAA Tournament bid.
After shooting 17 percent in the first half, Washington State crawled back in the second half to force overtime, where the Ducks won 67-62 off solid free-throw shooting in the clutch.
Forward Ian Crosswhite scored a career-high 23 points and five rebounds for the Ducks, but fouled out of the game with 2:35 remaining in overtime.
Crosswhite scored nine of Oregon’s first 14 points in the game and dominated in the low post. He was slowed in the second half after Washington State head coach Dick Bennett made the adjustment to double-team Crosswhite whenever he touched the ball.
“Ian Crosswhite was just a man tonight down in that low block,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent told KUGN (590 AM) Radio after the game.
Oregon finished the game shooting 44.9 percent from the floor after shooting 8 of 24 in the second half.
Leading 31-14 at halftime, Oregon let an 18-point lead slip away in the second half. Crosswhite was slowed after scoring 14 points and shooting a perfect 6 for 6 from the field in the first half. He didn’t miss his first shot until 7:05 was left in the second half.
Washington State didn’t play its typical slow offense in the second half, knowing it had a huge deficit to overcome. After four minutes of play, the Cougars had hit three three-pointers and cut the lead to 34-25.
Senior James Davis struggled in the game, missing five three-pointers in the second half. Oregon (12-7 overall, 7-5 Pac-10) shot just 3 for 15 from the three-point line.
By the eight-minute mark, the Cougars had cut the lead to five points. Guards Marcus Moore, Thomas Kelati and Randy Green led the way with 12 points each for the Cougars.
With a little more than a minute left, Moore hit a big three-pointer to tie the game at 51. It was the Cougar’s first tie since the game was knotted at 12.
“The encouraging thing or the positive thing that I continue to look at is we’re doing something right to get the lead before we lose the lead,” Kent said.
But in overtime, Oregon was the better team and played like it did in the first half. Even with Crosswhite fouling out, Oregon managed 14 points to Washington State’s nine in extra minutes.
The Cougars had the lead after center Justin Bellegarde hit a free-throw to start but Oregon led the rest of the way.
Guard Andre Joseph had five of his 13 points in overtime and hit clutch shots throughout the game when they were needed.
The game was tied at 60 with 1:09 left, but Oregon finished shooting 6 of 7 from the free-throw line to get the win. Oregon was 20 of 26, shooting 76.9 percent from the foul line on the game.
“This game helped us to be able to regain our composure and win in overtime,” Kent said. “The bottom line is when we needed to dig in we did it, (and) we kept our composure.”
Oregon finished the night on 22 of 49 shooting and winning the rebound margin 37 to 33. The Ducks were a mere 20 percent from beyond the arc after shooting 0 for 10 in the second half.
Senior Luke Jackson finished with 16 points after earning just four in the first half that all came off free throws. Guard Brandon Lincoln finished the game with nine points, two assists and two rebounds.
“Brandon hit some tough buckets in this game,” Kent said. “He did a great job defensively. I thought it was a big breakthrough game for him.”
Oregon now sits in a tie for third place in the conference with Cal — Stanford leads at 12-0 and Arizona sits at 8-5. The Ducks will face Arizona on Thursday back at McArthur Court and have the chance to move into second place in conference play.
Oregon is just trying to keep its NCAA Tournament hopes alive for the third straight year. The Ducks’ win against Washington State was crucial in that fight.