Ducks boost resume in upset

Larry Krystkowiak had a simple diagnosis for what ailed No. 9 Utah on Sunday in Eugene.

His Utes suffered from a lack of an inside presence, subpar 3-point shooting and a dearth of second-half rebounds in their 69-58 loss to Oregon.

“There were a lot of 50-50 balls that didn’t go our way,” Krystkowiak said. “We just need to play harder.”

Dillon Brooks scored 11 straight points late in the second half and finished with 19 to help the Ducks enhance their own NCAA tournament chances.

Joseph Young added 14 points and Elgin Cook had 12 for Oregon, which sits comfortably in third place in the Pac-12 after its first victory over a Top 10 team since beating then-No. 3 Arizona last year in the regular-season finale.

Delon Wright scored 20 points for Utah. The Utes dropped a game behind Arizona in the conference race with a showdown against the No. 7 Wildcats set for next Saturday.

Utah attempted more 3-pointers (29) than shots from inside the arc (23) for the first time this season, though many of the long-range tries came in catch-up mode late.

Brooks, a freshman, scored seven consecutive points to put the Ducks up by 10 with 4:58 to play. After Utah had a 7-0 run to pull within three again, Brooks added four more points – the last two on a driving dunk – to give the Ducks a 59-52 cushion.

Arizona St. 64, USC 59:

Tra Holder and Jonathan Gilling both sank 3-pointers in the final two minutes and Arizona State rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit to pull out a victory over USC in Tempe, Arizona.

Holder’s 3 tied it at 56-56 with 1:59 to play and Gilling’s 3 put the Sun Devils ahead for good 59-56 with 42 seconds remaining.