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The Ducks led wire-to-wire Thursday night, beating Utah 77-59. Casey Benson and Dillon Brooks led the Ducks to their first conference road win.
Brooks led all scorers and rebounders with 21 points and eight rebounds. Benson set a new career high with 15 points and grabbed three rebounds.
For Utah, Brandon Taylor led them with 12 points and two assists. Jordan Loveridge scored six points and was limited to 2-6 shooting from three-point range.
Oregon started the game by going on a 8-0 run after a pair of three-pointers from Benson and two free throws from Elgin Cook. The Ducks continued to push the ball and attack the rim. Early in the first half Jordan Bell drove to the basket and was fouled. A Utah player interfered with the ball when it was on the rim and the referees counted the basket. After the play Bell said something to a Utah player and received a technical foul.
The game was called very tight by the officials. Utah shot 21 free throws in the first half and put Oregon in foul trouble. Dana Altman had to adjust to the flow of the game and put in walk-on Max Heller and Roman Sorkin.
Oregon's foul total in the half was 16. Nine Ducks have at least one foul and seven Oregon players have two.
— Oregon Basketball (@OregonMBB) January 15, 2016
The Ducks were up 15 points with over 30 seconds left in the first half. A Benson turnover was followed by a Loveridge three-pointer to give Utah the momentum going into halftime.
Early in the second half, Utah scored four points to cut the deficit to eight. A couple of possessions later Loveridge hit another three-pointer to bring the Utes within six points.
Oregon responded with a run of their own. Benson continued his excellent play after a bizarre series of events led to a layup and a new career high for the sophomore.
This might be the craziest sequence I've seen in the Dana Altman era. 5th block 4 Boucher/career high pts for Benson pic.twitter.com/fcsYNjJUje
— Matt Prehm (@Prehmmr247) January 15, 2016
Brooks continued his excellent play and kept Oregon's possessions alive. The sophomore had a quick putback layup that gave Oregon a 19 point lead and proved to be the dagger for Utah.
The Utes are 1-9 against the Ducks since joining the Pac-12 in 2011. The Ducks will try to complete their first road trip sweep of the Rocky Mountain schools on Sunday. Oregon will play at Colorado at 4 p.m. on the Pac-12 Networks.