Oregon men’s basketball (18-12, 9-8 Pac-12) defeated the Washington State Cougars (11-19, 4-13 Pac-12) 72-61 Wednesday night in Beasley Coliseum. The Ducks put forth a strong offensive effort by shooting 49 percent from the field and 50 percent from the 3-point line to sweep the season series.
Both teams were able to get off to hot starts on offense but quickly went cold offensively as both teams went scoreless for over two minutes. Senior forward Paul White ended the cold streak with a 3-point shot that contributed to Oregon’s hot shooting to blow the game open for Oregon.
White, who ended the first half with a game-high 13 points on 3-of-4 from the 3-point line, got help from his teammates as well. Payton Pritchard, who finished with 15 points, contributed to the first-half scoring with 12 points on 6-of-8 from the field.
Despite the hot shooting to end the first half, Oregon opened the second half without scoring a point for the first four minutes. Will Richardson ended Oregon’s drought with a floater in the lane. Richardson would go on to score Oregon’s first four points of the second half.
Victor Bailey Jr. continued his hot streak with a 14 points on 4-of-5 from the 3-point line, including back-to-back 3-point shots. The bench also was able to contribute with 31 points.
White, despite struggling last weekend against the Arizona schools, rebounded with a career-high 21 points.
Louis King and Kenny Wooten both had career-high scoring performances last time they faces the Cougars but it was different this time around. King only finished with three points and Wooten, who didn’t score his first points until two minutes left in the game, finished with two points following a posterizing alley-oop.
The Ducks will head to Seattle to finish conference play against Washington on Saturday. Oregon now sits tied for fifth place in the conference following the win and will be playing for a first-round bye in the Pac-12 tournament.
Follow Gabriel Ornelas on Twitter @gabe_ornelas