OR begins Pac-12 Tournament with 80-57 win over ASU

No. 5 OR (29-4, 16-2) is headed to the Pac-12 Tournament championship after taking down California (21-12, 10-8) on Friday at T-Mobile Arena, 73-65, behind 23 points from Tyler Dorsey.

Key run: Down 29-24 late in the first half, the Ducks closed the half on a 12-4 run to take a 36-33 lead into the break. Chimezie Metu hit a jumper on the Trojans’ first offensive possession to make it a one-point game. Chances are their season will continue in the NCAA Tournament, but it’s up to the selection committee now. The night was highlighted by an 18-point performance from junior point guard Jordan McLaughlin, but poor shooting and tough defense from UCLA kept the Trojans from ever taking the lead.

No. 15 Cincinnati 80, Tulsa 61: Kyle Washington scored 21 points and Jacob Evans added 20 to lead Cincinnati to a rout of Tulsa in the American Athletic Conference quarterfinals. “We missed some easy shots tonight, especially to start the first and second half”. He did not return to the game because of concussion evaluations.

The Wildcats (27-4) shared the Pac-12 regular-season title with OR (27-4) at 16-2, with the Bruins (28-3) a game behind at 15-3.

Cal clawed back, whittling the lead down to 64-61 with 3 1/2 minutes left behind a little defense of its own, but couldn’t finish it off. The Golden Bears had two opportunities to cut into the lead more but committed a turnover and Kingsley Okoroh missed a shot in the lane.

Aaron Holiday finally broke the UCLA drought with a 3-pointer that gave the Bruins a 77-74 lead with 10:32 left. Moore answered with two free throws for Cal with 44 seconds left. He did not return until 5:39 remaining and OR up 64-57. Ennis had 16 points and was a flawless 9-for-9 from the foul line. With the top four seeds taking the floor today fans were looking for the unusual to happen.

For the night games, things got started off with the up-and-down Arizona Wildcats at the No. 2 seed.

Feb 25, 2017; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats head coach Sean Miller hugs senior guard Kadeem Allen (5) after playing the UCLA Bruins at McKale Center. ASU watched Chris Boucher find early foul trouble with two in the first half.

UCLA opened the game on an 8-0 run, and the Trojans went the first five minutes without scoring a basket, missing their first 10 shots until Bennie Boatwright made a 3-pointer.

Bryce Alford had 15 points against the Wildcats in Tucson, and Lonzo Ball had 11 points, eight assists and five rebounds.

The first is the existence of Washington freshman point guard Markelle Fultz, who is so good that it doesn’t seem to bother anybody that his team finished its season with 13-straight losses.

NOTES: Oregon entered the game second nationally at 6.8 blocks per game. Their tie with the Oregon Ducks at the top of the standings this season gave them their fourth regular season crown in the past seven seasons.

The Oregon Ducks advanced to their third consecutive Pac-12 tournament championship game on Friday by beating Cal 73-65. De’Anthony Melton converted a three-point play and Jonah Mathews made a 3-pointer in that span. They turned the ball over nine times and finished the period shooting just 42.3 percent, including 2-of-12 from 3-point range. That’s five from tying the school single-season record and eight from matching the Pac-12 record of 224, set by Washington in 2015-16.