It wasn’t pretty.
At times it was downright awful.
In the end though, the Ducks made just enough plays and got just enough stops to earn the 59-56 win over Arizona State in front of an enthusiastic crowd at Matthew Knight Arena.
“A lot of conference games come down to just grinding them out and we were fortunate,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said. “Our guys found a way — our defense was really solid and guys were flying around.”
It was a game to remember for Oregon freshman Jordan Bell.
“Wow, he was good tonight,” Altman said about Bell. “We don’t win that game without Jordan.”
Bell set the Oregon single-season blocks record with his first block of the game and then later in the game, tied Oregon’s single-game blocks record with his eighth swat of the game. Bell’s eight blocks also set the Matthew Knight Arena record, surpassing his own record of six earlier in the year.
“When I came into Oregon, it wasn’t really an accomplishment I had in my head but it feels good,” Bell said about setting Oregon’s single season blocks record. “Coach (Altman) knew I was good shot blocker so he put me in a defense where he knew I could succeed at that.”
Joseph Young led the Ducks with 16 points while Elgin Cook added 14 points and four rebounds.
For the most part, the game was as sloppily played as the Ducks have had all year long with the first half being the worst the Ducks have played thus season. Through the first 10 minutes of the game, Oregon had already committed nine turnovers and failed to grab an offensive rebound, thus limiting Oregon’s scoring potential.
“We got out rebounded — our ball movement wasn’t what it needed to be — we had some bad turnovers and gave up a few easy baskets,” Altman said.
The game looked to be getting away from the Ducks late in the first half when they were trailing 20-14 with 4:44 to play but a 11-3 run to close out the half leading 25-23.
Young started the run with a three-pointer and then after an ASU miss, Ahmaad Rorie threw a lob to Bell for the massive dunk and prompt a Sun Devils timeout. Out of the timeout, the Ducks got another stop and then Dwayne Benjamin and Bell got offensive rebounds on the next two possessions that both led to Oregon buckets.
The second half was a back and forth affair that featured six tie and 10 lead changes as neither team led by more than four points.
The combination of Bell, Young, Cook and Dillon Brooks combined to score 32 of Oregon’s 34 second half points while Bell added four rebounds and four blocks.
Arizona State had the chance to push its lead to six late in the game but back-to-back blocks by Bell on consecutive ASU possessions didn’t allow that to happen. Instead, Cook was found for an easy layup that tied the game at 45 with 6:57 to play.
Oregon seized the lead for good on back-to-back possessions as Bell tipped in a Cook miss with 1:48 to go to tie the score at 55 and then on the next possession, Bell outmuscled ASU’s Eric Jacobsen for a putback and the 57-55 lead.
For the game, the Ducks shot 50 percent from the field (23-for-46) while going 10-for-14 from the charity stripe. Defensively, Oregon eld ASU to 40 percent shooting (19-for-47) and an abysmal 18 percent (3-for-17) from beyond the arc.
The Ducks will travel to the state of Washington this weekend to face Washington State on Thursday and Washington on Sunday.
Follow Ryan Kostecka on Twitter @Ryan_Kostecka