Dorsey leads No. 16 Oregon past Oregon State, 91-81

Tyler Dorsey tied his career high with 25 points as No. 16 Oregon defeated Oregon State 91-81 on Saturday night at Matthew Knight Arena. After a couple of exchanges, OR went on the first of several big runs of the game they would use to take control of the game.

The Oregon Ducks host the Oregon State Beavers in one of the college basketball games on Saturday, start time at 10:00 AM ET. It was that balance, and OR shooting 51% from the field in the first half, that put the Ducks in position to play clock ball the entire second half.

Cheikh N’diaye had a three-point play for OSU, but Dorsey answered with a bucket for Oregon. Gary Payton II and Malcolm Duvivier each was on the bench with two fouls before the first half was 10 minutes old; OR led 10-9 when Duvivier picked up his second and was pulled, and stretched the lead to 24-12 before Payton returned.

Sophomore forward Dillon Brooks had 17 points and Elgin Cook scored 16 for the Ducks (21-6).

The 16th-ranked Ducks (20-6, 9-4) are coming off two losses in the Bay Area following a six-game winning streak.

Chris Boucher added 14, as well as grabbing a game high 9 rebounds, narrowly missing a double double, and also added 3 blocked shots, including the one above by Langston Morris-Walker.

Even for a reserved player like Dorsey, the excitement and in-game celebrations were hard to hide.

Tinkle, above, AP photo, was Oregon State’s lone bright spot in the second half, and he ran off 5 straight points to start a 7-0 rally run, but Oregon again responded with a run of their own. Oregon State is averaging 70.8 points per game and they are shooting 43.7 percent from the floor while defensively they are allowing 69.2 points and their opponents are shooting 42.8 percent.

“Tyler is a pretty confident young man”, Altman said.

And, almost unanimously, the Beavers are considered the top team in the Pac-12 headed into the 2016 season. “I think we got better this week”. Dorsey capped the first half with a layup that gave OR a 51-28 lead at the break.

NOTES: The Ducks and Beavers have played 346 times, the most of any two schools in NCAA history…. The Ducks led by 23 points at halftime and maintained at least a 20-point lead until the final minutes.

Be proactive – Use the “Flag as Inappropriate” link at the upper right corner of each comment to let us know of abusive posts. When Cook was asked if the dunk counted as a miss, Boucher quickly chimed in: “No, I got the assist on it”, he said with a smile.

The Ducks also are trying to reach the NCAA tournament for a school-record fourth consecutive season, which they have essentially locked up.