Oregon's Louis King and Payton Pritchard each scored 20 points while combining for 31 points in the second half to lead the Ducks to a 66-54 win over Utah in a Pac-12 tournament quarterfinal game Thursday night in Las Vegas.
The sixth-seeded Ducks (21-12) next play second-seeded Arizona State (22-9) in a semifinal game Friday night. Third-seeded Utah (17-14) must now await its fate for a possible NIT berth.
Oregon pulled away in the second half by scoring 48 points after producing only 18 by halftime. Pritchard and King fueled the second-half surge, in which the Ducks outscored Utah 48-30, with 16 and 15 points, respectively.
Donnie Tillman led Utah with 18 points and Timmy Allen had 14. The Utes' leading scorer, Sedrick Barefield, was beset by foul trouble for most of the game. He finished with five points on 2-of-12 shooting from the floor.
Despite Barefield playing only eight minutes in the first half because of two fouls, Utah still took a 24-18 lead into halftime.
The Utes held Oregon to only 27.6 percent shooting from the first half, and Tillman picked up the scoring load by producing 12 points before halftime. The Ducks shot 60.7 percent from the field in the second half. King and Pritchard were a combined 11 of 20 after the break.
Oregon scored the first six points on the second half, culminating on consecutive layups by Pritchard to tie the game at 24 with 17:26 remaining.
Utah had only one field goal through the first 7:38 of the second half -- shooting 1 of 9 from the field and 0 of 3 from 3-point range at that point -- until Both Gach made a layup that cut Oregon's lead to 31-30.
After a three-point play by King increased the Ducks' lead to 34-30, Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak was whistled for a technical foul with 11:46 left arguing a foul called on Jayce Johnson (who finished with nine points and 12 rebounds).
Pritchard made one of two free throws following the technical to give Oregon its biggest lead of the game at that point, 35-30.
Oregon's advantage grew to 45-36 with 7:00 left on a layup by Victor Bailey Jr.
Utah got as close as 47-43 with 4:23 left, but Oregon later went on a 8-2 run to pull away to a 60-49 lead with 1:02 left.
--Field Level Media
Oregon | Utah | |
Louis King 20 | Scoring | Donnie Tillman 18 |
Payton Pritchard 5 | Assists | Sedrick Barefield 3 |
Louis King 7 | Rebounds | Jayce Johnson 12 |
Louis King 4 | Free Throws Made | Donnie Tillman 9 |
Francis Okoro 2 | Steals | Parker Van Dyke 2 |
Francis Okoro 6 | Blocks | Jayce Johnson 4 |