CORVALLIS — Oregon hit a season-high 15 three-pointers and beat Oregon State 80-67 Sunday night in Gill Coliseum, giving the Ducks the Pac-12 regular season men’s basketball title for a second consecutive year.
Will Richardson nailed six three-pointers and scored a career-high 22 points as Oregon (19-5, 14-4 Pac-12) avenged an earlier season loss to the Beavers.
Facing the conference’s top three-point defense, Oregon didn’t blink, hitting 15 of 23 from behind the arc. The Ducks shot 57% from the floor, and never trailed in the game.
Oregon claimed the Pac-12 title and the conference tournament’s No. 1 seed by winning 10 of its final 11 games.
The Ducks had five players score in double figures. Aside from Richardson, Eugene Omoyuri scored 18 points and Eric Williams Jr. 14.
Oregon State (14-12, 10-10) shot a credible 52% (28 of 54) from the floor, but couldn’t match Oregon’s perimeter firepower. The Ducks outscored the Beavers 45-12 from three-point range.
Ethan Thompson scored 16 points and Warith Alatishe 14 as OSU had four players score in double figures.
Next up for both teams is the Pac-12 tournament, and both teams have first-round byes. The four-day tournament runs Wednesday through Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The top-seeded Ducks play the Arizona State-Washington State winner during Thursday’s quarterfinal round at 11:30 a.m. That game is followed by No. 5 Oregon State against UCLA (17-8) at 2:30 p.m.
If the Ducks and Beavers win, they’ll face each other during the conference tournament semifinals Friday.
Oregon led 44-31 after torching Oregon State’s defense from three-point range. Going against the Pac-12′s top three-point defense statistically, the Ducks went 8 of 12 from behind the arc during the first half. Richardson was primarily responsible, hitting 5 of 5 from three. His last three was a deep one that banked off the glass.
Oregon never trailed during the opening half, and led by as many as 16 points. OSU put up its best response after falling behind 26-10, going on a 12-1 run started by a pair of three-pointers from Lucas.
The Ducks lead, down to 27-22, suddenly swelled to 16 in a few minutes when Oregon hit five consecutive three-pointers, three by Richardson.
Roman Silva got going early in the second half for OSU, as he scored three layups during a two-minute stretch as the Beavers trimmed the deficit to 10. But back came Oregon with the three, as Richardson and Omoyuri each hit one to push the lead back to 54-41.
Oregon State made mild threats, most with its inside game. Alatishe scored on a fast-break layup to pull the Beavers to within nine with 8:26 remaining. But the Ducks immediately got the margin back to double-digits when Duarte hit a corner three for a 64-52 lead.
Oregon stayed in control, never letting the lead slip below nine points.
By starting against Oregon, Thompson tied Gary Payton for the most starts in OSU history with 120.
–Nick Daschel | [email protected] | @nickdaschel
