Field Level Media
Mar 9, 2018
Oregon guard Elijah Brown had 21 points and tied a career high with seven 3-pointers, and the Ducks overcame an 11-point deficit in the final 10 minutes to advance to the Pac-12 tournament semifinals with a 68-66 upset victory over Utah on Thursday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
MiKyle McIntosh had 18 points, including a go-ahead three-point play with 1:02 remaining, for the sixth-seeded Ducks (22-11). Oregon won the tournament in 2016 and has been in the final the past three seasons.
Justin Bibbins scored 20 points, David Collette had 16 and Sedrick Barefield had 11 for the third-seeded Utes (19-11). Utah had won six of its previous seven games.
Oregon will play Southern California in the semifinals. The Ducks lost both regular-season games to the Trojans, by five and two points.
The Ducks posted their second comeback victory in 24 hours. They trailed for the first 39 minutes before beating Washington State 64-62 in overtime on Wednesday in the first round.
Colorado is the only team since the league expanded to 12 teams in 2012 to win the tournament without getting a bye in the first round. The Buffaloes won four games in four days, beating Arizona in the final.
Brown's seventh 3-pointer brought the Ducks within two at 62-60 with three minutes left, and Kenny Wooten made one of two free throws to close the gap to 64-63 with 1:53 to go.
McIntosh made two free throws with 1:14 remaining for a 65-64 edge, the Ducks' first lead since 33-32.
After Donnie Tillman put Utah back in front with two free throws on the next possession, McIntosh made a layup and free throw for a 68-66 lead.
Barefield missed a 3-point attempt, and Oregon milked the clock before Payton Pritchard missed a layup to give the ball to Utah with 8.4 seconds remaining.
Barfield took the inbounds pass and dribbled the length of the court, but his reverse layup was blocked by Wooten, whose blocked shot in the final second preserved the Ducks' victory against Washington State.
The Ducks shot 37.7 percent from the field a day after making 38.7 percent against the Cougars, a game in which they did not lead until the final minute of regulation.
Utah fell despite shooting 51.2 percent from the floor.
--Field Level Media