Oregon men’s basketball thrives again in final minutes as Ducks rally past Penn State

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Oregon’s Keeshawn Barthelemy, right, celebrates with teammate Jackson Shelstad after making a three-point basket Sunday during the first half against Penn State. The Ducks escaped with a one-point win.

Oregon has thrived under late-game pressure all season and it did so again Sunday afternoon.

Six players scored in double-figures for the No. 17 Ducks, who rallied from a nine-point deficit in the final minutes to escape with an 82-81 Big Ten men’s basketball victory against Penn State in front of 8,972 at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Jackson Shelstad led Oregon (15-2, 4-2 Big Ten) with 17 points and tied his career high and set his season high with eight assists.

Keeshawn Barthelemy added 15 points, a team-high six rebounds, six assists and three steals. Jadrian Tracey scored 13, including 10 in the final 5:28 to ignite the Ducks come-back bid. His two free throws with 18 seconds left gave the Ducks a four-point advantage, 82-78.

Penn State’s Zach Hicks made a 3-pointer with two seconds to play and the Ducks overcame a dicey inbounds play – when Tracey’s pass to Nate Bittle was poked free but recovered by Shelstad as time expired – to improve to 3-0 in conference road games and move into a tie for fourth place in the Big Ten standings with Indiana and Illinois.

Oregon also leads the conference with five wins decided by four points or fewer.

“It’s hard to win on the road,” Ducks assistant coach Mike Mennenga said on the KUJZ-FM postgame radio show. “They’re a good team, but we figured it out.”

Oregon, which led by as many as 14 in the first half, was up 47-38 at the 17:11 mark of the second half when Penn State came alive with a 30-12 run to go ahead 68-59 with 6:34 to play.

Then the Ducks started chipping away, with a layup by Kwame Evans Jr. tying the score at 76-76 with 2:24 remaining.

Bittle also scored 11, and Evans and TJ Bamba had 10 points apiece for Oregon, which outshot Penn State from the field 54.4% to 45.6%, though the Ducks were outrebound 36-29.

Fred…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/oregon-mens-basketball-thrives-again-001622758.html

Author : The Register-Guard

Publish date : 2025-01-13 00:16:00

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