Field Level Media
Feb 29, 2024
Freshman Kwame Evans Jr. matched his career high of 22 points and collected nine rebounds and three steals to help Oregon post a 78-71 victory over Oregon State on Wednesday night in Eugene, Ore.
Jermaine Couisnard scored 13 of his 16 points in the second half and also had six assists for the Ducks (19-9, 11-6 Pac-12). Oregon's seventh straight win over the Beavers also was the 750th career victory for coach Dana Altman.
Brennan Rigsby scored 14 points, N'Faly Dante had 11 points and seven rebounds and Jackson Shelstad also scored 11 points for the Ducks.
Sophomore Tyler Bilodeau matched his career best of 26 points and Jordan Pope added 22 for Oregon State (12-17, 4-14), which dropped to 2-41 on road and neutral courts over the past three seasons. Dexter Akanno had 10 points as the Beavers lost for the eighth time in their past nine overall games.
The contest was the final regular-season game between the teams during the Pac-12 era. Oregon leaves for the Big Ten after this season while the Beavers will spend the next two seasons in the West Coast Conference.
It was the 364th meeting between the schools in a series that is the most contested in college basketball history.
Oregon State shot 48.3 percent from the field, including 7 of 21 from 3-point range.
The Ducks made 49 percent of their attempts and were 5 of 18 from behind the arc.
Couisnard scored eight of Oregon's 10 points during a key span in the middle of the second half.
Dante slammed home a ferocious dunk to give Oregon the lead with nine minutes remaining. Couisnard made jumpers before and after Dante's dunk as the Ducks took a 59-55 lead with 8:23 left.
Couisnard sank two free throws with 7:55 remaining. After the Beavers moved within two, Couisnard hit another jumper. Evans added a 3-pointer before Couisnard split two free throws to give Oregon a 67-59 advantage with 4:34 left.
Evans made two free throws to push the lead to 10 with 2:09 left. He converted a three-point play to make it 72-61 with 1:47 remaining, and the Ducks closed it out.
Oregon led 35-33 at halftime despite Pope scoring 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting for the Beavers.
--Field Level Media