Oregon Easily Outpaces Oregon State

Oregon easily outpaced Oregon State Saturday night, taking a 91-81 win that was no where near as close as the final margin might suggest.

The 16th ranked Ducks took a 25 point lead with the first basket of the second half, and led by 25 twice more with over 8 1/2 minutes left, and it was only as close as 10 points for the first time since in the first half because the Beavers went on a 15-1 run after Oregon had cleared their bench.

The key event of the 346th basketball battle of the Civil War came less than 4 1/2 minutes into the game, when Gary Payton II picked up his second personal foul.

"That just took away our aggression defensively," Oregon State coach Wayne Tinkle said. |They pinned their ears back and attacked. We haven't given up that many points in a half in quite some time."

After a couple of exchanges, Oregon went on the first of several big runs of the game they would use to take control of the game.

Already in the bonus before the second media timeout, the Ducks made a 17-4 run that Dillon Brooks, above driving past Stephen Thompson Jr., AP photo, contributed 9 points to, to take a 23-12 lead.

and supplemented that with a subsequent 12-4 run, and finally an 11-4 run to finish the half, and take a 51-28 lead to the locker room.

It was the most points Oregon State has allowed in a first half all season, easily eclipsing what happened in the loss at California last Saturday night, which for a week had been the Beavers' worst first half of the year.

Tyler Dorsey, above, AP photo, was the biggest problem for the Beavers, pouring in 15 of what would become a co-career high 25 points for the Ducks.

But he had plenty of help, as Brooks and Elgin Cook were both already in double digits as well. It was that balance, and Oregon shooting 51% from the field in the first half, that put the Ducks in position to play clock ball the entire second half.

Cook opened the second half with a basket to open the first 25 point lead of the night, but Tres Tinkle and GP II, who was held to 2 first half points, combined for a 5-0 run to give Oregon State a glimmer of hope.

However, another of the many whistles blown on the night sounded barely 2 minutes into the second half, and Payton had his third personal foul of the game.

Oregon reopened 24 point leads when Dorsey reached 20 points on the night, going up 58-34, and again on a pair of Chris Boucher free throws.

Tinkle, above, AP photo, was Oregon State's lone bright spot in the second half, and he ran off 5 straight points to start a 7-0 rally run, but Oregon again responded with a run of their own.

Brooks capped a 10-3 run that offset Oregon State's and made it 70-46 by midway in the second half, and the Beavers never made any headway as long as it mattered.

When Tinkle reached the 20 point mark coming out of a timeout with just over 4 minutes left, Oregon still led 88-66.

Duck coach Dana Altman was already working his bench into the game, and the fact that he cleared it with more than 2 minutes left allowed the late run that narrowed the margin to 10 points.

The sellout crowd at Matthew Knight Arena, Oregon's first of the season, which included such notables as Portland Trailblazers coach Terry Stotts and former great Duck quarterback Dan Fouts, saw Oregon not only avenge their loss at Oregon State in the Pac-12 season opener, but also tie the all-time Duck record for consecutive home wins at 23, which is also the 5th longest home winning streak in the country currently.

Oregon also bounced back strongly after getting unexpectedly swept in the Bay Area last weekend.

"I didn't want to make a big deal about last weekend," Altman said. "You see teams all over the country that don't have good outings and it's a long season. I was very disappointed, so I was hoping we'd come back and play focus and alert. They did that and more."

"We knew they would be a different team," Tinkle added. "After their road trip last week and them coming home, kudos to them. I've got to give them credit."

Tinkle finished with 23 points, on 6 of 10 shooting, equaling his career high, and Payton did get to double digits eventually, finishing with 11. Thompson came off the Oregon State bench to add 12, and Drew Eubanks had some second half moments, winding up with 8 points.

Dorsey finished with a game high 25 points, and Brooks had 17, with Cook close behind, with 16.

Chris Boucher added 14, as well as grabbing a game high 9 rebounds, narrowly missing a double double, and also added 3 blocked shots, including the one above by Langston Morris-Walker. That number is deflated from the number of shots Boucher, who leads the country in blocked shots, actually altered.

Oregon improved to 21-6 for the season, and 10-4 in the Pac-12, and in a tie with Arizona for first place in conference.

Oregon State dropped to 15-10, and 6-8 in conference. The Washington schools come to the Willamette Valley this coming week and weekend. The Huskies, who beat Stanford 644-53 today, will be at Gill Wednesday night at 8 PM. The Beavers will have to bounce back at home to keep now flickering NCAA Tournament hopes alive, with the NIT suddenly looming much larger on the horizon.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com