Washington State dealt Oregon's NCAA tournament hopes a severe blow Saturday night at McArthur Court, upending the Ducks 62-53. Rebounding was the Achilles heel for Oregon as the Cougars hit the glass for an 11 rebound margin and limiting the Ducks to only two - two - offensive boards.

And there were a number of rebounds to be had at that end of the court for the Ducks. In their previous two games, Oregon had shot the three ball well. Against the Cougars - whose pack the paint defensive style would seem to be counterproductive against a team that can rain the trey as well as Oregon, the Ducks could only manage 4-17 from behind the arc, and all four makes were by Maarty Leunen. Malik Hairston, Bryce Taylor, Tajuan Porter and Thursday night's sharp shooter, Churchill Odia combined for an oh-for-ten.

When Oregon couldn't shoot the Cougars out of the paint, they were never able to find points on the dribble drive. As a consequence, Washington State controlled the game from fairly early in the proceedings.

Derrick Low broke a tie at seven with a long ball and the Cougars quickly built their lead to seven points by the ten minute mark of the opening half.

The Ducks rallied back as Leunen hit for a dunk and a trey. Mitch Platt contributed eight solid minutes on the night and in his first appearance hit two free throws then back to back buckets from inside the paint and Oregon took a 22-20 lead. It would be their last.

Kyle Weaver and Taylor Rochestie each hit buckets for the Cougars and after Derrick Low drove the lane for a lay-up, the lead was six as the teams headed to the break.

In the second half it was mostly more of the same. Washington State was content to run the shot clock down to single digits before attacking the basket - and frequently earned a second shot clock after being fouled or taking the ball of the offensive glass.

With Oregon unable to establish a transition game or build any momentum the Cougars gradually extended their lead to 12 points.

Hairston hit for a lay-up on an out-of-bounds play and after Kamyron Brown completed an and one, Leunen hit for dunk and a trey get the Ducks back within three points but the Cougars were able to stave off the rally on a Taylor Rochestie three and tip-in by WSU's seven footer Aron Baynes.

Another trey from Leunen and a pair of free throws got the Ducks back to within one point as game moved under the five minute mark, but Baynes hit three buckets from inside the paint on WSU's next three possessions and the Cougars 10-13 effort from the charity stripe kept the Ducks at arm's length the rest of the way.

Leunen 20 points led the Ducks and he was the only Oregon player to reach double figures.

"They controlled the tempo with their offense," said Oregon coach Ernie Kent. "They make you accountable possession by possession. You just don't have enough possessions to make many mistakes."

"I don't think we ran the offense that well tonight," said Malik Hairston. "We were able to get some shots off and get the ball to Maarty, but we had a lot of turnovers. We didn't share the ball the way we should have."

"That is a veteran basketball team. When we make one mistake they took advantage of it."

With a win against the Cougars, the Ducks could possibly have moved up as high as third place in the standings. Now however, the Ducks are without a margin of error if they expect to participate in this year's NCAA tournament. Currently 6-6, the Ducks next face three straight games on the road, first traveling to Los Angeles then facing the Beavers in Corvallis before returning to close out the season with a visit from the Arizona schools. No team has made the tournament with a 9-9 record, so it appears the Oregon at the least will need to win one in LA, beat the Beavers then hold home court against Arizona and Arizona State if they want to find themselves in the bracket next month.

"This next weekend becomes huge again," said Kent. "It's not over, you just have to grind it through. The window was open for us, and we just didn't climb through. It's very important that we bounce back from this game . Those (UCLA and USC) are two very good basketball teams. It's going to be very difficult to beat them on their home floors but hopefully, the adversity and urgency will force us to play up."