With Oregon holding a 13-point lead early in the second half against California on Thursday night at McArthur Court, things started looking eerily similar to the loss to Arizona State last week.
The Golden Bears crept back in the game and tied it, just like the Sun Devils.
But this time the Ducks fended off the challenge with clutch free-throw shooting to stave off the Bears, 63-58.
“This game mirrored our season,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. “The difference was we made our free throws, we didn’t turn the ball over as much and we did a gutsy job on defense to get a much needed win.”
Oregon’s Aaron Brooks scored seven of his nine points during the last three minutes of the game, including 4 for 4 from the free-throw line, to help the Ducks, who had been struggling from the line all year, to shoot 9 of 10 from the foul line in the second half.
“Once you knock one down in a pressure situation, I think it kind of trickles down to the rest of the team,” Brooks said.
With the win, combined with a Washington State loss to Arizona, the Ducks (13-11 overall, 5-10 Pacific-10 Conference) are now tied with Cal (12-13, 5-10) and the Cougars for seventh in the Pac-10, with the Ducks having the tie-breaker over Washington State for the final spot in the Pac-10 Tournament.
“That’s our goal right now, because I feel like if we can get there we’ll be rejuvenated, and call it a rebirth if you want, because the pressure will be off of them,” Kent said. “They are a good enough team if we get there; I just think the Pac-10 Tournament is up for grabs, and it’s just a matter of who is confident and playing well.”
The Ducks were led by their true freshman. The four — Bryce Taylor, Malik Hairston, Maarty Leunen and Chamberlain Oguchi– scored 44 of the Ducks’ 63 points led by Taylor’s game-high 15 points.
“I started getting going later in the first half, and that got my confidence going,” Taylor said. “I just tried to have fun out there and be intense.”
Kent believed it was the 27th consecutive Pac-10 sell-out at Mac Court that got the 6-foot-5 freshman going.
“Bryce needed this crowd,” Kent said. “He did a nice job for us in the game.”
Leunen also came up big for the Ducks, scoring 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting.
The Ducks started slow, trailing Cal 8-1 to start the game, but Hairston hit two three-pointers to close the gap.
Oregon went on a 12-0 run in the first half and took a 26-17 lead.
The Bears pounded the ball inside all night, not scoring their first points outside the paint or from the free-throw line until Martin Smith hit a jumper with a minute left in the half to make it 32-23, Oregon.
In the second half, the Bears answered late with a 9-0 run to get the game within one point at 53-52 before Brooks took over to finish the game.
Next up for Oregon is Stanford on Saturday at Mac Court at 4 p.m.
“It’s going to be a fight and a battle for us every day down the stretch,” Kent said. “That starts on Saturday here against Stanford.”
