A game where the star-player produced his best performance of his career should not need overtime and many nail-biting moments. That game being against the last-place team in the conference, who had nothing to play for at this point in the season furthers that point. 

Rivalry games are different, however, and Sunday afternoon was no different. 

Nate Bittle waited until the regular season finale to produce a career-defining performance, and finished with a career-high 36 points — with 12 rebounds and two blocks — in a 80-73 victory over the Washington Huskies that appeared in doubt at times. 

Only three Ducks other than Bittle scored more than four points, as Oregon struggled to pull ahead against a Husky team that had lost its last five heading into Sunday afternoon. 

Oregon rode its six-game winning streak into Seattle on Sunday afternoon to take on the Big Ten bottom-feeding Washington Huskies. The Huskies lost their previous three games by a combined 73 points. 

The Ducks handled their rivals in Eugene in late January 82-71, and each team’s season finale followed a similar tune. 

The Ducks didn’t miss a single shot during the first five minutes of the contest. 

During that same stretch, Bittle scored nine of the first 13 Oregon points on 4/4 shooting and made his only try from deep at that point. His 21 first half points single-handedly put the Ducks ahead in the early-going. 

That was also the only three Oregon made in the first half. The Ducks stayed ahead largely due to their ability to get buckets inside. 

Oregon climbed out to a 10-point lead early in the first, but the lack of scoring on both sides prevented all attempts from breaking the game open. That included a four-minute long field goal drought, and for most of that stretch, Bittle was on the bench.

Washington collected enough offense to bring the Oregon lead down to three at the break — 36-33. 

The Huskies also forced eight Duck turnovers in the first half, which accounted for 13 points off turnovers. Oregon only tallied four in that category off of just five Washington giveaways. 

By the end of the game Washington led the turnover margin 13-7 and points off turnovers 21-6. 

The Ducks opened the second by settling for threes rather than finding buckets inside, which was the formula that worked in the first. As they settled into the half, however, the Ducks drove to the basket more and slowly took more and more life out of the Huskies. 

But Oregon continued to shoot itself in the foot with turnovers, and gave Washington its first lead of the afternoon after two-straight threes eight minutes into the second half. 

Bittle’s hot hand showed up yet again to put the Ducks back on top with a contested triple at the end of the shot clock. Keeshawn Barthelemy followed that up with his first three of the game, but Oregon went scoreless in the following two minutes. 

That ballooned to a five-minute field goal drought, which mirrored the struggles the Ducks had during a similar timeframe in the opening half. The drought was broken by another Barthelemty three, which came five-and-a-half minutes after his previous triple. 

Washington stayed in the game by continuing to make shots and play aggressive defense. The focus on Bittle prevented any offensive outburst by Oregon. 

With a minute to go, Oregon turned to its star center, who missed an initial attempt, but tipped in his second try to give the Ducks another slim lead. The Huskies tied it up from the free-throw line on the next possession, which proved crucial, as Kwame Evans Jr. missed both of his potential go-head free throws. 

Washington missed the game-winner on the other end, and the contest moved into overtime. 

By the end of regulation, Bittle scored 35 points and his teammates scored a combined 33, but the Ducks still had an opportunity to win the game.

The extra period followed the script that regulation did. Neither team mustered up enough offense to pull away by the end. Washington didn’t score until halfway through overtime, but by that point, Oregon scored five of its own. 

The Ducks slowed down the game significantly and found easy shots inside to close out their last regular season victory of the year. 

Oregon needed the extra five minutes to finish off its rival Washington, but the Ducks got it done in the end 80-73. 

Oregon returns to action Thursday afternoon in Indianapolis against the Indiana Hoosiers in the second-round of the Big Ten tournament.