CORVALLIS – Oregon reached the season record of 15 with three points and beat Oregon State 80-67 on Sunday night at the Gill Coliseum, giving the Ducks the Pac-12 regular season men’s basketball title for the second year in a row.
Will Richardson hit six points out of three and scored 22 points, the best of his career, while Oregon (19-5, 14-4 Pac-12) avenged a loss the previous season to the Beavers.
Facing the best three-point defense of the conference, Oregon did not blink, hitting 15 of 23 behind the hoop. The Ducks threw 57% of the ground and never lost in the game.
Oregon claimed the Pac-12 title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament by winning 10 of its 11 final games.
The Ducks had five players scored in double digits. In addition to Richardson, Eugene Omoyuri scored 18 points and Eric Williams Jr. 14.
Oregon State (14-12, 10-10) tossed 52% (28 out of 54) of the ground, but failed to match the firepower of the Oregon perimeter. The Ducks outperformed the Beavers 45-12 in the three-point range.
Ethan Thompson scored 16 points and Warith Alatishe 14, as the OSU had four players scoring double digits.
The next game for both teams is the Pac-12 tournament, and both teams have farewells in the first round. The four-day tournament takes place from Wednesday to Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The best placed Ducks play against the winner of the State of Arizona and the State of Washington during the quarterfinal round of Thursday at 11:30 am. This game is followed by the 5th State of Oregon against UCLA (17-8) at 2:30 pm.
If Ducks and Beavers win, they will face each other during the semifinals of the conference tournament on Friday.
Oregon led 44-31 after setting fire to Oregon State’s defense in the three-point range. Going against the Pac-12’s three-point defense, statistically, the Ducks hit 8 of 12 behind the hoop during the first half. Richardson was primarily responsible, hitting 5 out of 5 out of three. His last three were a deep one that sank the glass.
Oregon never lost during the first half and led by up to 16 points. OSU showed his best response after falling behind on 26-10, going on a 12-1 run started by Lucas’ pair of three points.
The Ducks’ lead dropped to 27-22, suddenly rising to 16 in just a few minutes, when Oregon scored five consecutive points out of three, three from Richardson.
Roman Silva started early in the second half for OSU, scoring three layups over a two-minute stretch while the Beavers narrowed the gap to 10. But Oregon came back with the three, with Richardson and Omoyuri each hitting one to push the lead from back to 54-41.
The state of Oregon has made light threats, most with its domestic game. Alatishe scored in a quick attack basket to pull the Beavers into nine with 8:26 remaining. But the Ducks immediately recovered the double-digit margin when Duarte hit a three-turn for a 64-52 lead.
Oregon maintained control, never letting the lead drop to less than nine points.
When starting against Oregon, Thompson drew with Gary Payton as the most number of games in OSU history, with 120.
–Nick Daschel | [email protected] | @nickdaschel