No. 5 Oregon beats ASU in quarterfinals
Graham keeps Sun Devils close in 1st half, Ducks pull away to win
LAS VEGAS — Oregon had a hard time stopping Torian Graham in the first half, allowing Arizona State to keep it close. The Ducks still didn’t have an answer for Graham in the second, but they shut down everyone else to earn a spot in the Pac-12 semifinals.
Dillon Brooks scored 22 points, Tyler Dorsey added 21 and No. 5 Oregon pulled away in the second half to beat Arizona State 80-57 Thursday in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament.
“They’re an elite team and have the type of defense that’s going to keep them in games as they play championship-level basketball,” Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley said.
Oregon (28-4) tightened up defensively after a close first half, holding Arizona State to 8-of-33 shooting in the second. That set up transition baskets and allowed the Ducks to pull away from the eighth-seeded Sun Devils.
Dylan Ennis had a careerhigh 12 rebounds and five assists for the top-seeded Ducks, who move on to face California in the semifinals Friday night.
“I thought our defensive energy was pretty good,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “They did get a couple good looks, but mostly those were pretty contested shots.”
Arizona State (15-18) matched Oregon almost shot for shot in the first half before succumbing to the Ducks’ length and pressure in the second.
Graham, a senior, had 32 points and made seven 3-pointers, but the rest of the Sun Devils’ starters were a combined 5 for 30 from the floor.
“I don’t really want to talk about points because we lost,” Graham said. “I just want to talk about the team and the things that we can work on as a team or what they could do to move forward. I just try to help the young guys prepare themselves for next year.”
The Ducks were co-champions of the Pac-12 with Arizona, earning the No. 1 seed in the tourney with their victory over the Wildcats in their lone meeting.
Arizona State had given Oregon all it could when it made the trip to Eugene, losing 71-70 in a game that had 15 lead changes and nine ties. The Sun Devils had just six turnovers in that game, but Brooks scored the final 12 points for the Ducks to earn the victory.
Arizona State needed to shoot well in the rematch to have a chance and did just that early on, scoring its first 12 points on 3-pointers.