The Oregon Ducks were ice cold all night, except when it mattered most.
The Ducks overcame a 10-point deficit with less than two minutes left, capped by freshman guard Tajuan Porter’s three-pointer that tied the game at 66 and sent it to overtime, where the Ducks carried that momentum on to a 79-73 victory against Rice in Houston.
Point guard Aaron Brooks kept the Ducks close in the second half to make their run. The senior scored 30 points including six in overtime. He made 8 of 11 shots scored 22 points in the second half.
With the Ducks’ four-point halftime deficit ballooning to 10 with 1:43 left and to 65-57 with 56 seconds remaining, Brooks took over for the Ducks and Rice hurt its cause from the free-throw line by making only 12 of 24 attempts in the final 20 minutes with Oregon having to foul to extend the game.
After another missed free throw with Oregon trailing 66-63, Porter hit nothing but net on an off-balance three-pointer with 18.1 seconds remaining.
Oregon stole the ball on the Owls’ ensuing possession, but Porter traveled before he hit what would have been the game-winning three-pointer.
In overtime, Rice’s Morris Almond gave the Owls the lead momentarily with two of his team-high 28 points, but the Ducks went on a 7-0 run, five coming from forward Maarty Leunen, including a three that gave the Ducks a 73-68 advantage. Oregon hung on for its first road victory of the season.
The comeback victory occurred after easily the worst shooting performance of the season for Oregon.
The Ducks shot 31 percent in the first half and were 3 of 17 at one point in the second-half from three-point range before the comeback.