Oregon Evens CBI Championship At A Game Apiece

Final Score: Oregon 71 Creighton 58

Oregon evened the CBI Championship Series at a game apiece with a solid 71-58 win over Creighton Wednesday night at Matthew Knight Arena. The win forces another championship deciding game Friday at 7 PM PDT, which will also be in Eugene.

The Ducks took the lead for good just 5 minutes into the game, going up 5-4 on Teondre Williams' basket, and pulled away from there, taking a 35-21 halftime lead. Oregon opened two 21 point leads, on baskets by Garrett Sim and Joevan Catron, less than half way through the second half, and cruised to the win from there.

The score was closer than the game, as Catron's three pointer opened a 20 point, 69-49 lead with 4:38 left.

Catron finished with a game high 18 points, while Malcolm Armstead added 14 more, and E.J. Singler also was in double digits, with 10 points.

Gregory Echenique and Jahenns Manigat co-lead the Shockers, with 10 points each.

Creighton's freshman Doug McDermott, the Shockers' leading scorer with an average of 15.2 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, got into foul trouble early, and had to sit out much of the first half. McDermott finished with only 6 points and 2 rebounds.

The revealing stat of the game was Oregon's shooting 53.4% from the field, while Creighton struggled, shooting 41.9%.

Oregon's win means the Pac-10 could claim the second CBI Tournament Title in three years if the Ducks (20-18) can get the win Friday night. For Creighton (23-15) to claim the trophy for the Missouri Valley Conference will require a better shooting night from the field, as the Shockers' inaccuracy more than offset a dominant advantage at the free throw line, where they made 15 of 18, contrasted to the Duck's 4 of 7 evening.

In both games Creighton has dominated at the line, but in both cases the win related directly to field goal shooting percentage.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com