Field Level Media
27 Feb 2021, 10:35 GMT+10
Down six with 9:06 left Thursday night at Stanford, Oregon's hopes of securing a first-round bye for the Pac-12 tournament appeared to be in some jeopardy.
Then Chris Duarte took over with nine straight points at one stage (including five to jump-start the comeback), followed by a go-ahead 3-pointer with 3:55 left that put the Ducks ahead to stay in a 71-68 victory.
As a result, the Ducks can now clinch that cherished first-round bye for the conference tournament with a win on Saturday at last-place California.
"Guys found a way," Oregon coach Dana Altman said. "We hit just enough shots and made just enough stops."
At 15-5 overall and 10-4 in the conference, Oregon seems to be in good shape for an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament, should it not win the Pac-12 tourney. The regular-season title remains in play for the Ducks, although they'll have to pass UCLA and USC in the last nine days.
Oregon has four games remaining, and the trip to Berkeley is the easiest of them on paper. The Ducks host Arizona on Monday and UCLA on Wednesday (in a game postponed three times) and visits Oregon State, which thumped them 75-64 on Jan. 23, on March 7.
Duarte, who finished with 24 points at Stanford, is the team's leading scorer at 17.2 points per game. Eugene Omoruyi (16.6 ppg), Eric Williams Jr. (11.1) and St. John's transfer LJ Figueroa (11) also average in double figures.
Meanwhile, the Golden Bears (8-18, 3-16) will try to close their regular season on a high note. Given their recent performance, that might be difficult. Thursday night's come-from-ahead 59-57 home loss to Oregon State was their third straight and 10th in 11 games.
Cal actually established a 14-2 lead less than five minutes into the game and led 33-28 at the half, but coughed up the first nine points of the second half and never reclaimed the lead. The Golden Bears missed on two chances to tie or take the lead in the last minute, committing turnovers on both possessions.
Matt Bradley pumped in 20 points on 7-for-11 shooting to lead Cal, but also coughed up the ball as he tried to maneuver for a final shot for a game-ending turnover. Bradley is averaging a team-best 18.7 points this season.
The Ducks won the teams' first meeting 82-69 on New Year's Eve in Eugene, getting 26 points, six rebounds and five steals from Omoruyi.
--Field Level MediaGet a daily dose of Tucson Post news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Tucson Post.
More InformationNEW YORK CITY, New York: Former British prime minister Rishi Sunak will return to Goldman Sachs in an advisory role, the Wall Street...
LONDON, U.K.: Physically backed gold exchange-traded funds recorded their most significant semi-annual inflow since the first half...
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands: Some 32 percent of global semiconductor production could face climate change-related copper supply disruptions...
NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks rebounded Tuesday with all the major indices gaining ground. Markets in the UK, Europe and Canada...
NEW YORK CITY, New York: Financial markets kicked off the week on a cautious note as President Donald Trump rolled out a fresh round...
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil: At a two-day summit over the weekend, the BRICS bloc of emerging economies issued a joint declaration condemning...
(Photo credit: Denis Poroy-Imagn Images) Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado each homered as the San Diego Padres beat the visiting...
(Photo credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images) Amazon Prime Video has hired veteran broadcaster Kevin Harlan to call NBA games during...
(Photo credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images) Amazon Prime Video has signed Kevin Harlan to call NBA games in the 2025-26 season,...
(Photo credit: Arianna Grainey-Imagn Images) The Arizona Diamondbacks are under .500 for a good reason: Their starting pitching hasn't...
(Photo credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images) Adrian Houser allowed one run over seven innings to help the Chicago White Sox end...
(Photo credit: Denis Poroy-Imagn Images) Geraldo Perdomo hit a grand slam Wednesday night and Brandon Pfaadt sailed through the longest...