EUGENE – Senior center N’Faly Dante led the Ducks with 15 points, while junior guard Keeshawn Barthelemy added 14 points of his own as Oregon outscored Stanford in a nail-biting 73-68 showing Saturday afternoon.
Dante was a powerful force in the paint as he sank seven of his nine shots from the field. He also added five blocks for the Ducks (17-13, 11-8 in the Pac-12 Conference).
Dante contributed 12 rebounds and one assist, and Barthelemy sank four of his seven shots, stole the ball and secured a rebound. Senior guard Will Richardson added 10 points, six assists and four rebounds as he affected the floor in versatile fashion.
“It didn’t go well to start off. We gave up a lot of second-chance points,” Richardson said. “We got a great group of guys and everybody on the team… love each other so that’s a great feeling. The connectedness… nobody got their head down. You could just feel the energy from everybody.”
Senior forward Spencer Jones provided a boost for the Cardinal (13-8, 7-12 in the Pac-12) offense with his 18 points, as he gave Oregon defensive fits all contest. Junior forward Brandon Angel made six of his eight field goals as he put up 18 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Sophomore forward Harrison Ingram scored 11 points to go with his eight rebounds and four assists.
Oregon went on an 18-5 scoring run with 5:40 remaining in the first half. They led the Stanford Cardinal to a 39-34 halftime score. The second half was sluggish at the start, but with 14:38 remaining Jones brought the deficit to single digits with his two point jump shot.
Angel brought the lead to within three for the first time since 18:37 in the second half. From the efforts of Dante, Barthelemy, Richardson and the raucous Matthew Knight Arena crowd, the Ducks pulled away 73-68.
After annihilating the California Golden Bears 84-51 Thursday night, Oregon was able to close out strong for the narrow victory. This is despite the 45.6% shooting from the field and 66.7% from the free throw line.
“Dante saved us with a bunch of blocks. He really was active defensively there,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said. “After a slow start on the boards, we corrected some things that we weren’t doing.”
Oregon extended its win streak to three games and secured the No. 4 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament, while Stanford finds itself back in the win column after defeating the Oregon State Beavers 83-60 on March 2. Tune into the 2023 Pac-12 Tournament on March 9 when the Ducks tip off following their first round bye at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
