With 3:33 left in regulation, Oregon found itself trailing the Boise State Broncos 58-57, in desperate need of a big play if the Ducks hoped to avoid their first home loss since January 2015.
As Portland Trailblazers’ point guard Damian Lillard looked on from his baseline seat, Oregon’s Dylan Ennis caught a pass with his feet perched just beyond the 3-point line, took a moment to gather himself and fired.
The shot caught nothing but net and the Matthew Knight Arena crowd of 6,824 went ballistic as the No. 23 Ducks took their first lead in over 32 minutes. Ennis bobbed his head, trotted backwards and pointed at his wrist as he looked toward Lillard, trying to catch the attention of the star point guard.
“Yeah, he’s actually one of my favorite players,” a smiling Ennis said after the game. “He didn’t even see me.”
Ennis’ momentum-tilting three was the exclamation point on a 10-0 scoring run that the Ducks would ride to a 68-63 victory. Ennis finished with 18 points, none bigger than his final three. The total marked his career-high as a Duck, and his performance was his best in an Oregon uniform thus far.
“Coach had been telling me to take good shots and hit threes; you’ve just got to get the ones where you’re in rhythm,” Ennis said. “That was one that was in rhythm and it just went down.”
The lead that Ennis’ jumper provided Oregon didn’t last long, as the Broncos tied the game at 60 on the following possession when Chandler Hutchinson buried two free throws. Oregon scattered three points over the next three minutes to take a 63-60 lead and held the ball with under 30 seconds left and the shot clock dwindling. With five seconds to shoot, freshman point guard Payton Pritchard took one dribble toward the basket, hit his defender with a step-back move and drilled a jumper that all but sealed the win for the Ducks.
Payton. Dagger. #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/Uc84EPDcPj
— GoDucks (@GoDucks) November 29, 2016
Oregon escaped with an ugly victory against a lackluster opponent. While it was a step in the positive direction in the win column, the Ducks are still left with plenty of questions to answer.
“We looked bad,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said. “Five of our turnovers in the first half were guys driving and they just took it from us; guys over-dribbling and they just took it from us.”
Oregon struggled to find its rhythm on offense for much of the game, and trailed 32-29 at halftime. The Ducks shot just 2-of-9 from three point range and 5-of-10 from the free throw line. While they shot a solid 44 percent clip from the field, they eight turnovers to just five assists in the half.
The Ducks would finish the game with 15 turnovers to eight assists.
“We’ve got a lot more turnovers in the season than we do assists,” Altman said. “I thought we got few things straightened out against Connecticut, but our ball movement, again, was just so poor tonight. Everybody just gets it and holds it.”
Dillon Brooks made his home debut for Oregon and struggled mightily in 21 minutes. Brooks shot 1-of-9 from the field and didn’t score his first point until late in the second half. He finished with four turnovers to one assist.
“He had a bad game,” Altman said. “He was trying too hard, just going way too fast and he had a tough night. We know he’s a good player — We’ve seen it for two years. He’s just got to slow down. It will come back.”
Ennis’ 18 points led all scorers, and he shot 9-of-10 from the free throw line. Tyler Dorsey added 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting for the Ducks and Chris Boucher pulled down eight boards and blocked five shots in 24 minutes. Boise State guard Paris Austin led the Broncos with 16 points, 12 of which came in the second half.
With the win, Oregon’s record jumps to 6-2 on the year. The Ducks will face Western Oregon at home on Wednesday before hosting Savannah State on Saturday.
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