The Oregon Ducks made a run against the No. 21 Washington State Cougars Saturday night but ultimately fell short, losing 62-53 in front of 9,087 at McArthur Court.
Washington State (20-5, 8-5 Pacific-10 Conference) went on a late run to end a closely played first half with a 30-24 lead, and would stretch the lead to 41-29 early in the second half when Derrick Low and Taylor Rochestie connected on three-pointers in three straight possessions.
“They’re both really, really good basketball players. They are really good at making you pay on any type of slippage,” said Oregon coach Ernie Kent of the Cougar backcourt.
Rochestie led the way for Washington State with 21 points, 16 in the second half, and Low added 16 more. The guard duo of Rochestie and Low outscored the guard duo of Bryce Taylor and Tajuan Porter 37-10. Taylor and Porter had six points and four points, respectively.
Oregon (15-10, 6-7 Pac-10) would go on a 10-1 run to close the lead to 42-39 on Maarty Leunen’s three-pointer at the 12:21 mark, but another Rochestie three and an Aron Baynes putback slam pushed the lead back to 47-39.
The Cougars would go without a point for the next seven minutes, and a Leunen three-pointer and two free throws would pull the Ducks to within one at 47-46 with 4:44 remaining, but Baynes would answer with seven straight points for the Cougars to push the lead back to seven at 54-47. “Their guards find ways to get the ball to him,” said Leunen of Baynes. “In the first half we played well on him, but in the last few minutes he really made an impact.”
Clutch free-throw shooting by Washington State and Oregon’s inability to hit threes would seal the deal down the stretch.
Oregon had trouble keeping Washington State off the glass all night, and the Cougars won the overall rebound battle 31-20, scoring 12 second chance points to the Ducks’ two.
“The difference in the game was the offensive rebounding in the first half, because it gave them more shots,” said Kent.
“It was a team performance on the glass tonight,” said Washington State coach Tony Bennett. “We really wanted to limit them to just one shot.”
The Cougars needed the extra shots, as the Ducks held them to 40 percent shooting for the game compared to Oregon’s 48.7 percent from the field. Washington State would make up for it from behind the arc as well, shooting 45 percent from three point range to Oregon’s 23.5 percent.
“After watching the Washington film we saw how many open looks they got, so we made it our focus to contest every shot,” said Low.
“Our defense played great tonight,” said Bennett. “When our offense wasn’t playing well, our defense worked hard and made up for it on the other end.”
Leunen led Oregon with 20 points and was the only Duck to convert a three-pointer, going 4-of-7 from three point range. Joevan Catron was next for Oregon with eight points, three assists, two rebounds and two blocks, and Mitch Platt added six points and a rebound in eight minutes off the bench.
The Ducks stood to gain a tie for third in the Pac-10 with a win, but instead fell back into a maelstrom of teams around the .500 mark in conference play.
“From where we were, with an opportunity to gain some ground, this is a tough loss for us,” said Kent. “It’s very important that we bounce back from this game. You cannot collapse. You just have to keep playing.”
Next up for Oregon is a trip to Southern California to face the Los Angeles schools, the Trojans Thursday and the Bruins Saturday.
“This next weekend becomes huge again. It’s not over, you just have to grind it through,” said Kent. “The window was open for us, and we just didn’t climb through.”
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