Dec. 11, 2006

Eugene, Ore. - Cracking the top 25 polls for the first time in almost three years, the #24-ranked Oregon Ducks broke open a tight contest in the second half to swim past visiting Bethune-Cookman College tonight by a count of 92-64 inside MacArthur Court in Eugene, Oregon.

Inside the nation's oldest on-campus gym for collegiate basketball, Oregon (8-0) used 21-8 run over the course of the first nine minutes of the second half to pull away from a resilient Bethune-Cookman (2-4) squad.

With the first half being a tight contest pretty-much throughout the entire way, the `Cats stood toe-to-toe with, what has been called, one of the most talented teams in the Pac-10 conference ... if not the most talented of all schools. Jimmy Hudson's three-pointer from the left corner with 14:53 left in the first half actually put the `Cats up by one (11-10) as Hudson accounted for 11 of the `Cats 32 first half points.

The Ducks then put together a 7-0 run, sparked by a three-pointer from Bryce Taylor to go back up 17-11.

Oregon led 41-32 at the break.

In the second half, the Ducks' quick-paced and fast-attack offense, employed by head coach Ernie Kent, was too much for B-CC as Aaron Nelson picked up three quick fouls to turn the point of B-CC's inside-outside game to just an outside transition attack.

"We have to be able to make shots in the second half," expressed B-CC fifth-year head coach Cliff Reed. "We were right within striking distance in the first half with pretty good defense and great shooting, but then we allowed them to hit just too many transition buckets and uncontested shots. You just can't do that against a team this good and expect to pull off the upset."

Oregon's Taylor and Tajuan Porter provided big shots in the second half to keep the scrappy Wildcats squad at bay with a 15-20 point margin for almost the entire second half. The Ducks pushed the lead out to as many as 28, with that being the final margin of victory on the night, as Adam Zahn layed in two of his four points with 19 ticks left in the game.

B-CC gave up a season-high 12 three-pointers on defense as Taylor and Porter hit six (6) of those shots themselves ... two of Porter's and Taylor's coming in the second stanza during the key stretch of the first five minutes.

Oregon was led on the night by Taylor's 21 points and six rebounds, while Porter added 13 points of his own. Also in double figures was Joevan Catron with 15 points and three rebounds. Churchill Odia, playing in his first game of the year for Oregon, had nine points and five assists off the bench.

As for the Wildcats of Bethune-Cookman, Hudson led the way, bouncing back from a dismal 1-for-12 performance against Oregon State just two days prior to finish up this contest with a game-high tying 21 points, five rebounds and two assists. Also in double figures was Nelson with 11 points and five rebounds. Sophomore Kevan Creppy did the dirty work for B-CC with a game-high 11 rebounds, while pitching in six points of his own.

"If nothing else, we'll learn a lot about ourselves on this trip," continued Reed. "We are going to play a certain way this year, and it looks like it's finally starting to get there. I want us to consistently run our offense and get better each day on defense. If we do those two things, then we will get a lot out of this trip ... and I'll keep saying that after each game, too."

Bethune-Cookman College continues their west coast swing on Thursday when they travel to their third straight Pac-10 opponent at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, Calif. Tip-off for that game is set for 7:30 pm local time (10:30 EST). Mike Johnson and Darryl Nattiel will call the action live on WELE 1380 am, or via your internet browser at www.wele1380.com.