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EUGENE – Oregon is back on top of the Pac-12 with a game to play.
Chris Duarte had 23 points, LJ Figueroa had 18 and Eugene Omoruyi and Will Richardson each added 15 for the Ducks, who erased a nine-point deficit and closed in a 14-6 run in the 4:06 final to dominate UCLA 82-74 Wednesday night at Matthew Knight Arena.
Oregon (18-5, 13-4 Pac-12) won its ninth of 10, with seven of those games to come in the past 14 days, and lead a half-game ahead of UCLA for the first place for Pac-12 with a game to play.
Jules Bernard scored a career-high 23 points and had four assists for the Bruins (17-7, 13-5), who face USC on Saturday. UO plays at Oregon State Sunday (5 p.m., FS1).
Oregon’s five starters scored all of their 37 points in the first half, but allowed Bernard to shoot 7 of 8 on the field for 15 points, the main reason for a 30-12 UCLA advantage in the painting in the first half. The Bruins shot 60 percent from the field and took a 39-37 lead at the break.
“He was absolutely killing us,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “He had 15 points from six layups (in the first half). He got to the rim whenever he wanted, he’s physical, but we weren’t slipping our feet.
But the Ducks stopped Bernard full length. The junior made three runs to give UCLA a 56-47 lead with 13:28 remaining, but didn’t score again.
Oregon eliminated a nine-point deficit (60-51) with 11:16 left in an inning 17-6 with seven from Duarte.
“A lot of teams wouldn’t have responded that way,” Altman said. “Very proud of the guys. I thought Will Richardson just picked up the game and made some really good plays, finished some things on the basket. Our defense has really tightened.
Altman said UO players told him they wanted to switch to man-to-man defense and push harder on the stretch, which sped UCLA on 12 turnovers in the second half, down from just two in the first. .
“I had them in the clique and I said, ‘Fellas, we’re not stopping. What do you want? You become responsible; we have to stop, ”Altman said. “They wanted to go human and change everything and they did a great job with it, in front of the post. Will and Eric (Williams Jr.) at times, LJ, Chris, all kept everything out of (Cody) Riley’s hands pretty well.
“I thought it was a really big key. The team really bought into what they wanted to do and really took it back.
Oregon used their press on dead balls in the back court and their bench was as energetic as it has been all season. When the Bruins handed the ball to Riley in the second half, several Ducks swarmed and either shut it up, force a ball or a roll and that tipped the advantage into the paint at 28-12 UO in the second half.
“We realized that they were really attacking some areas of the area,” Omoruyi said. “As a collective (we) decided to go to our man-to-man defense because we felt it was more effective and the coach let us do it.
Chandler Lawson came in to give Figueroa a rest at 10:50 am from the finish and it changed the Oregon press summit and forced UCLA into a series of costly mistakes. The Ducks forced six turnovers from the Bruins in the 4:46 period when Lawson came in.
“We were one step behind them all night until Chandler Lawson gave us a big boost in our press,” said Altman. “His energy and he got his hands on balls and that length made them pass. When we had deflections and turnovers it changed the pace of the game. ”
Omoruyi intercepted a UCLA pass in the backcourt and went coast to coast for a basket to put the Oregon 64-62 with 6:04 to go. The Ducks have never been left behind again.
“We knew what they were looking at, and if we stopped anything else, what they were looking at,” Omoruyi said. “I performed the read, got the ball, and finished it.”
Riley, who had 11 points, converted a three-runner game to tie 68-68 with 4:06 left. Then, Oregon ended the game in a 14-6 inning with contributions from each of its big four.
Figueroa came off the bench after a 4:06 break and suffered a backhand from a Richardson failure. Omoruyi came down the right edge of the track and twisted into a running jumper to put OU 72-68.
“I knew they were cutting off the traffic lanes,” he said. “I was able to adapt and move around, not the euro.”
Duarte drilled a three-pointer to give the Ducks their biggest lead of the game with 2:16 left.
After two free throws from Tyger Campbell (eight assists), Richardson hit a jumper in the lane, Duarte blocked Bernard and Richardson hit a three to blow up the game.
The dramatic and intense victory puts Oregon at the top of the conference after a glove of rescheduled games, four of which were decided by four points or less.
Altman attributed it to the tenacity of the team.
“They knew what they wanted,” he said. “I’m really proud of them because any of the games, if we had given up. We were embarrassed by our efforts at USC but we fought back, I was really proud of the guys. We were there, I said to them, ‘If you think I’m letting you go. Certainly not. We will squeeze them. We will try to recover this. I got him down to 10 and a few free throws and a few glances and maybe we could have tightened him up a bit.
“Tonight, nine points, a lot of teams, I think, would have quit. It was not going well for us. We didn’t have a lot of energy. But a big honor to all the guys, they turned the tide.
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