EUGENE, OREGON - The #13 Oregon Ducks (24-7, 13-5) beat the Stanford Cardinal (20-11, 9-9) by a score of 80 to 67 in the final regular season game of Payton Pritchard’s college career.
1ST HALF: Oregon and Stanford combined for four three-pointers at the beginning of the first half; the brothers from West Linn, Anthony Mathis and Payton Pritchard, gave Oregon the early 6-0 lead, but Daejon Davis and Spencer Jones evened the score. Shakur Juiston got the crowd of 10,862 on their feet with a dunk that reclaimed the lead, then Will Richardson added a layup after stealing the ball. Davis hit another triple to make it a one-point game, but Pritchard answered with a three-pointer.
Stanford tied the game at 13 apiece, but scores from Anthony Mathis, Will Richardson and Pritchard gave Oregon some breathing room. The Cardinal came close, tying the Ducks twice, but never led. Both teams shot well in the first half - Oregon 56.9 percent from the floor, including 10 of 19 from downtown, and Stanford 47.1 percent - but Oregon was able to pull away for a 36-31 lead at the half.
CUT DOWN THE NETS! This is the seventh conference title in program history (1919, 1939, 1945, 2002, 2016 and 2017) and the first outright title clinched in front of the home crowd in Eugene since 1945! And the third in the last five years under Dana Altman.#GoDucks #AlwaysUs pic.twitter.com/Y3KCMcUb05
— Oregon Men's Basketball (@OregonMBB) March 8, 2020
2ND HALF: Scores by Chandler Lawson and Will Richardson extended Oregon’s halftime lead to nine points early in the second half. Daejon Davis and Bryce Wills earned four points for the Cardinal, but Anthony Mathis drained a triple assisted by Payton Pritchard. At the 13:42 mark, Pritchard hit a three-pointer after N’Faly Dante grabbed the defensive rebound and fed him the ball; the score gave the Ducks a 10-point lead that they were able to maintain for the majority of the game. It appeared the Cardinal had some life left in them late when Will scored a bucket that cut the lead to seven with 2:47 left in the game, but senior Payton Pritchard scored nine of Oregon’s final 11 points (including six consecutive free throws) to conclude his final game at Matt Knight Arena with a 29-point performance.
The Ducks are playing their best basketball of the season as we enter tournament time (surprise, surprise), and with players like Mathis, Dante and Richardson showing improvement over the last couple of weeks, Oregon has a great shot at once again claiming the PAC-12 Tournament Title and possibly making a deep run in the Big Dance.
The 1-Seed Ducks will face either 8-seed Oregon State or 9-seed Utah this Thursday at noon on the PAC-12 Network.
OREGON DUCKS
*Payton Pritchard (37 min): 6 REB - 5 AST - 1 STL - 4 TO - 2 PF - 8/16 FG - 4/9 3PT - 9/10 FT - 29 PTS
*Anthony Mathis (27 min): 1 REB - 1 AST - 1 STL - 2 TO - 1 PF - 5/7 FG - 4/6 3PT - 14 PTS
*Will Richardson (39 min): 4 REB - 1 BLK - 4 STL - 4 TO - 3 PF - 5/11 FG - 0/1 3PT - 2/2 FT - 12 PTS
*Shakur Juiston (29 min): 9 REB - 3 AST - 2 BLK - 1 STL - 2 TO - 1 PF - 3/5 FG - 6 PTS
*Chandler Lawson (15 min): 1 REB - 2 BLK - 1 TO - 4 PF - 1/2 FG - 2 PTS
Addison Patterson (17 min): 1 REB - 2 STL - 1 TO - 1 PF - 3/5 FG - 2/3 3PT - 1/3 FT - 9 PTS
N’Faly Dante (16 min): 4 REB - 1 AST - 2 STL - 1 TO - 4 PF - 4/4 FG - 8 PTS
Francis Okoro (12 min): 2 BLK - 2 PF
CJ Walker (8 min): 1 REB - 0/1 FG
STANFORD STARTERS
*Oscar da Silva: 7 REB - 1 AST - 1 BLK - 1 STL - 3 PF - 7/15 FG - 4/5 FT - 18 PTS
*Spencer Jones: 1 BLK - 3 TO - 2 PF - 4/5 FG - 4/5 3PT - 3/3 FT - 15 PTS
*Daejon Davis: 3 REB - 7 AST - 2 STL - 4 TO - 2 PF - 5/9 FG - 3/4 3PT - 13 PTS
*Bryce Wills: 4 AST - 1 BLK - 1 TO - 4 PF - 4/9 FG - 0/2 3PT - 2/2 FT - 10 PTS
*Tyrell Terry: 2 REB - 5 AST - 1 STL - 4 TO - 3 PF - 2/9 FG - 0/4 3PT - 2/2 FT - 6 PTS
HOIST THE
— Oregon Men's Basketball (@OregonMBB) March 8, 2020
PAC-12 Champs #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/GSXhGENMMm
GO DUCKS!
NEXT UP: UTAH or OREGON STATE
3/12, Thursday, 12 PM, PAC12 NETWORK