An emphatic alley-oop from Aaron Brooks to Bryce Taylor with one minute four seconds remaining was the first time Duck fans could breathe out Wednesday as Oregon escaped with a 75-58 exhibition win over Southern Oregon in front of 8,696 at McArthur Court.
Southern Oregon kept the score within single digits, even grabbing the lead twice, for much of the game until the Ducks used a 19-4 run over a five minute 17 second span late in the second half to open up a game tied at 50 with just more than eight minutes remaining. Brooks and Maarty Leunen each scored six points during that run, while Taylor scored five.
“We gelled together, we picked up our intensity, it could have been their fatigue,” Brooks said of the run. “It’s a lot of things that settled in. I think we got more comfortable playing out there and just playing together, running against a different team.”
Thurston High product Shea Washington hit two free throws with 8:16 remaining to tie the game at 50. Leunen was fouled on the ensuing possession and knocked the down the second of two free throws. On the Ducks’ next possession, it was Leunen dialing up a three-pointer and Taylor followed with a bucket on a backdoor cut and later a three-pointer of his own to push the lead to nine, Oregon’s biggest of the game at the time.
It wasn’t just offense that ignited the run as Oregon head coach Ernie Kent credited stops on the defensive end of the floor.
“At the end of the game, I thought that unit on the floor with about eight or nine minutes to go really did a nice job defensively of getting stops,” Kent said.
Southern Oregon scored and rebounded an Oregon miss on the ensuing possession, but Brooks’ quickness halted any momentum change. Brooks stole the ball near midcourt, raced toward the basket and made the layup while having his legs taken out from under him. He hit the free throw and a three-pointer less than 30 seconds later. Leunen followed with a layup on the following possession.
“We knew we were going to have a stretch where we were just going to score a lot of points; we just didn’t know when it was coming,” Leunen said. “We’re going to have our little runs where we score a lot of points at times. It all starts with defense and getting rebounds.”
Junior college transfer Ivan Johnson led five Ducks that scored in double-digits with 14 points in his Oregon debut. Johnson also added nine rebounds and a key block late in the game.
“I think a big difference in the game was our big guy who really became dominant down the stretch and pretty much unstoppable in (the paint),” Kent said.
Leunen and Brooks each scored 12 points, as Brooks added four assists and four steals. Ray Schafer had 11 points and Taylor added nine.
Washington led all players with 18 points.
“We’ve got work to do. We know it, but it’s a good start for us,” Kent said, “a good game to get out of the way.
“This is much better for us than playing a 40 or 50-point blowout. I would much rather have a team that is going to make us think, make us a little bit more accountable.”
Oregon wraps up exhibition play Nov. 15 when it hosts Oregon Tech at 7 p.m.

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