Poise and maturity in the face of a potent California offense allowed Oregon to post a 79-70 victory over the Golden Bears Thursday evening at McArthur Court. The Duck's three seniors, Malik Hairston, Maarty Leunen and Bryce Taylor paced the way with 20, 18, and 20 points respectively. In turn they each stepped forward to repel any California momentum in a game that saw Oregon in control most of the way, but forced to weather several Golden Bear assaults on their lead.
The Pit Crew was revved up in their first game back after the Christmas break and they helped the Ducks jump to a quick 8-2 lead on a Taylor lay-up and consecutive treys from Hairston and Churchill Odia.
As they would all evening, Cal stormed back on the shooting of sophomore Ryan Anderson and Patrick Christopher, eventually taking a one point lead at 15-14. The frontcourt pair led the Bears in scoring with 22 and 21 each.
Following a Bryce Taylor triple, point guard Kamyron Brown came up with a steal and a nice feed to Maarty Leuenen for a cripple and the Ducks were back in front by four. The Ducks pushed the lead to seven after a pair of Hairston free throws just under the four minute mark, and the ducks would take a five point lead, 31-26 to the locker room for the break.
In the first ten minutes of the second half, Oregon threatened to put the game out of reach, pushing the margin to 14 points as Hairston, Leunen and Taylor hit the three ball and ran the transition for lay-ups.
Just as methodically, the Bears came back. Anderson found a couple of buckets in the paint and Christopher buried a three to tie the game, then ran the break following a Kamyron Brown miss for a cripple at the other end to give the Bears a 56-54 lead as the clock approached the seven minute mark.
But rather than settle in for a tug of war with the Bears the rest of the way, Oregon's leadership and poise came to the fore. Leuenen found the twine for three, then was fouled on his next attempt from behind the arc as the shot clock was about to expire. Given the reprieve, Leunen hit two of the three, then stole the ball from Anderson and fed Taylor for another three ball, and the Ducks were back in front by six.
Taylor's steal and emphatic dunk on the next Bear possession didn't necessarily nail the coffin closed, but the Bears were up to their necks in dirt by the time the clock moved under the five minute mark.
One last run by the Bears on the shoulders of Anderson and Christopher shrank the margin to a bucket after Taylor missed a trey, but Brown sank two free throws, then following his block at the California end of the floor, Hairston drained a three and the Ducks had the game back in hand.
Statistically it was a noteworthy night for Leunen; his 11 rebounds led the team in that category and gave the senior forward his Pac-10 leading 10th double-double of the season and his 18 points pushed his career total over the 1000 point threshold. It is the second season in succession that Oregon has had three 1000 point scorers on the floor at the same time, Aaron Brooks joined Hairston and Taylor in the feat last season.
Tajuan Porter's shooting struggles continued, putting a damper on the results. The sophomore point guard came off the bench for the third game in a row and was 0-4 from the floor, the first blanking of his career.
"It's great to come back to Mac Court," said Oregon head coach Ernie Kent. "I think we were a little bit jittery in the first half. We made some adjustments on the defensive side of the ball." (In the second half)."we did a much better job of attacking their zone. We pounded it in a little more and got into a rhythm. You learn how to play with a calm on the road. I thought our poise was really good. We've been there before."
Up next for the Ducks is Stanford as the Cardinal come calling to Mac Court for a Sunday afternoon tilt. Tip-off is 1:30 and the game will be televised by CBS.
