Last time Oregon played Cal, the Ducks trailed late and required a Dylan Brooks buzzer-beater to win the game. Once again, it came down to the wire, but this time, Oregon did enough to win the game without the need for last-second heroics.
Oregon had struggles throughout the game and failed to lead much of the first half, but a dominant performance from Tyler Dorsey lifted the Ducks to a 73-65 Pac-12 Tournament semifinal win over Cal. Dorsey went 9-of-13 for 23 points
“Offensively, the whole team was out of rhythm,” head coach Dana Altman told reporters in Las Vegas. “I didn’t think our ball movement was very good. … That falls on everybody, not just Payton [Pritchard].”
Cal scored the first points of the night but on the defensive end Jabari Bird got underneath Jordan Bell and hit his head to the floor. Bird went to the bench to receive treatment for what appeared to be a laceration to the face and did not return to the game. Bird went to the hospital.
The Bears started the game on an 8-0 run, but a Dorsey 3-pointer and lay-in ended the hot start.
The Ducks struggled to find a rhythm, and Pac-12 player of the year Dillon Brooks managed only four points, going 1-for-9 from the field in the first half.
The Ducks led 36-33 at halftime, and Dorsey paced the Ducks with 13 points, going 3-for-3 from behind the arc.
“My teammates were finding me in great positions,” Dorsey said. “I was just spotting up and my man left me and I just stepped into the shots.”
Cal finished the half on a 4:38 scoreless run, which signaled a momentum shift. In the beginning of the second half, Oregon was called five consecutive fouls in a single possession.
The calls were met with boos from the traveling Oregon fans and a visibly frustrated Altman voiced his opinion in front of the Oregon bench after the Ducks’ Dylan Ennis was denied a foul.
The Ducks kept pace, though, in terms of scoring, starting the half 4-of-7 compared to Cal’s 1-of-5. Oregon then extended its lead to double-digits with under 15 minutes to play.
 
Cal was not going away and cut the score to 64-60 at the final media timeout of the game, and then tightened it to a three-point game.
The Bears earned two free throws to cut the lead to 67-65, but Ennis drove to the hoop and hit a free throw after a foul, giving Oregon a 70-65 lead with 22.6 seconds left in the game.
The Ducks held on and a few Ennis free throws helped Oregon win and advance to the conference final for the third consecutive year. The Ducks will either face Arizona or UCLA.
“We’ll just go through our regular recovery, try to get them off their feet as much as possible and have them ready to go at 8 o’clock tomorrow night,” Altman said.
Follow Shawn Medow on Twitter @ShawnMedow