EUGENE – Oregon is back on top of the Pac-12 with a game to go.
Chris Duarte had 23 points, LJ Figueroa had 18 and Eugene Omoruyi and Will Richardson added 15 for the Ducks, who eliminated a nine-point handicap and closed in a 14-6 run in the final 4:06 to the top of UCLA 82- 74 Wednesday night at the Matthew Knight Arena.
Oregon (18-5, 13-4 Pac-12) won its ninth out of 10, with seven of those games taking place in the last 14 days, and moves half a game ahead of UCLA to first place in Pac-12 with one game to play.
Jules Bernard set his career record with 23 points and gave four assists to the Bruins (17-7, 13-5), who play against USC on Saturday. OU plays at Oregon State on Sunday (5 pm, FS1).
The five Oregon players scored all 37 points in the first half, but allowed Bernard to hit 7 of 8 on the field for 15 points, the main reason for a 30-12 lead at UCLA in the first half. Bruins kicked 60% of the field and took a 39-37 lead to the break.
“He was absolutely killing us,” said Oregon coach Dana Altman. “He scored 15 points out of six layups (in the first half). He was reaching the limit whenever he wanted, he is physical, but we were not slipping. “
But the Ducks interrupted Bernard on the stretch. The junior scored a three-pointer to give UCLA a 56-47 lead with 13:28 left, but he did not score again.
Oregon eliminated a nine-point handicap (60-51) with 11:16 left, going in a 17-6 streak with Duarte’s seven.
“Many teams would not have responded that way,” said Altman. “Very proud of the boys. I thought Will Richardson just took over and really made some good plays, finished some things in the basket. Our defense really has become more rigid. “
Altman said the UO players told him that they wanted to switch to man-to-man defense and put more pressure on in the end, which accelerated UCLA 12 times in the second half, compared with just two in the first half.
“I had them in the heap and said, ‘Guys, we are not getting to stop. What you want? You become responsible; we have to stop, ‘”said Altman. “They wanted to go to the man and change everything and they did an incredible job with that, leading the post. Will and Eric (Williams Jr.) at times, LJ, Chris, all kept it out of (Cody) Riley’s hands very well.
“I thought it was a really, really big key. The team really believed in what they wanted to do and really took control. “
Oregon used its pressure on dead balls on the back court and his bench was as energetic as it has been all season. When the Bruins took the ball to Riley in the second half, several Ducks crowded and closed it, forced a ball or spun and this shook the paint advantage to 28-12 OU in the second half.
“We realized that they were actually attacking certain areas of the area,” said Omoruyi. “As a team (we) decided to go for our man-to-man defense because we felt it was more effective and the coach let us do that.”
Chandler Lawson came to Figueroa with a 10:50 left and changed the top of the Oregon press and forced UCLA into a series of costly mistakes. The Ducks forced six Bruins’ turnovers during the 4:46 period when Lawson entered.
“We were one step behind them all night until Chandler Lawson helped us a lot in our press,” said Altman. “His energy and he put some hands on some balls and that length made them throw some passes. When we had deviations and spins, it changed the pace of the game. “
Omoruyi intercepted a UCLA pass in the backcourt and went from coast to coast for a basket to place Oregon 64-62 with 6:04 to finish. The Ducks never dragged on again.
“We knew what they were looking at and, if we stopped something else, what they were looking at,” said Omoruyi. “I ran the reading, picked up the ball and finished.”
Riley, who had 11 points, converted a three-point play to tie at 68-68 with 4:06 to the end. Then Oregon closed the game in a 14-6 run with contributions from each of its big four.
Figueroa left the bench after a 4:06 break and suffered a setback from a failure by Richardson. Omoruyi drove along the right edge of the track and writhed in a running jump to get OU in 72-68.
“I knew they were blocking the lanes,” he said. “I was able to adjust and move around, the Euro stage.”
Duarte had a three-point shot to give the Ducks the biggest advantage of the game, with 2:16 left.
After two free throws by Tyger Campbell (eight assists), Richardson hit a jumper on the track, Duarte blocked Bernard and Richardson hit a three to open the game.
The dramatic and intense victory gives Oregon the leadership at the conference after a series of rescheduled games, four of which were decided by four points or less.
Altman attributed this to the team’s resistance.
“They knew what they wanted,” he said. “I am very proud of them because any of the games, if we had given in. We were embarrassed by our effort at USC, but we went back, I was very proud of the guys. We were downstairs and I said to them, ‘If you think I’m letting you go. No way. We will pressure them. We will try to recover that. ‘I lowered everything to 10 and some free throws and some looks and we could have managed to tighten it up a little bit.
“Tonight, nine points, many teams I think would have given up. It was not going well for us. We didn’t have much energy. But a big credit to all the guys, they came out on top. “