The struggles continue for the Oregon Ducks.
On Thursday night, the Portland Pilots (5-7) handed the Ducks (6-5) its fifth loss in seven games with an 80-72 victory in front of 3,355 at the Chiles Center in Portland.
Portland guard Pooh Jeter had 25 points and guard Darren Cooper added 21 to help the Pilots complete the school’s first sweep of all three in-state Division I rivals â?” Oregon State, Portland State and Oregon â?” since the 1956-57 season.
“I’m proud of our guys,” Portland coach Michael Holton said. “This is a good win for our basketball program.”
Aaron Brooks led Ducks scorers with 13 points, and Malik Hairston’s 11 points pushed his streak of double-digit games to 11 consecutive games. Adam Zahn also added 11 for the Ducks, who began the game with an early 7-0 lead and a 16-8 lead midway through the first half before a 10-0 Portland run gave the Pilots its first lead of the game.
Portland finished on a 14-7 run over the final four minutes of the first half to take a 42-35 lead into the break.
“We started out the game extremely well,” Oregon coach Ernie Kent said. “Then they got momentum and really controlled it throughout.”
Jeter opened the second half with a three-pointer â?” one of only four the Pilots made all game â?” to push the lead to 45-35. The Ducks eventually cut the deficit to four after consecutive three-pointers by Chamberlain Oguchi, and later Oregon used a 9-5 run to reduce the lead to five with 2:46 to play in the game. But a clutch three-pointer by 6-foot-10 Lake Oswego-native Ben Sullivan, who finished with 12 points, gave the Pilots a 71-63 lead and enough of a cushion with 1:35 to play.
“(Portland) played extremely well,” Kent said. “They made big shots.”
Portland, behind the play of guards Jeter and Cooper, was able to swing the momentum of the game by driving to the basket and getting to the free throw line. In addition to holding a 34-28 advantage in the paint, the Pilots shot a season-high 39 free throws because of a season-high 29 fouls committed by Oregon.
Led by Cooper, the Pilots shot 28 of 39 from the free throw line. Fifteen of Cooper’s 21 points in the game came from the charity stripe. He connected on 15 of 16 free throws.
“(Oregon) was playing very aggressive so I was trying to attack the basket,” said Cooper, who was 3 of 12 shooting. “They took away the outside game.”
From the field, the Pilots shot 51 percent compared with the Ducks’ 43 percent. Oregon is now 0-5 when its opponents shoot a higher field goal percentage.
“It all goes back to defense,” Hairston said. “If we don’t get stops, we won’t win games. (Defense) needs to be our bread and butter.”
The victory improves the Pilots home record to 5-1, while Oregon falls to 0-4 away from McArthur Court.
The Ducks return home to finish the month of December against in-state rivals Portland State (Dec. 27) and Oregon State (Dec. 31), a game that will mark the Pacific-10 Conference openers for both teams.
