EUGENE, Ore. — Wearing a pair of neon green shoes and dazzling the home crowd with an array of offensive moves, Joevan Catron sparked Oregon’s biggest Pac-10 Conference win in five seasons.
The defense on Klay Thompson wasn’t too bad either.
Catron, a senior forward, had 17 points and nine rebounds to lead the Ducks in a 69-43 rout of Washington State on Thursday night at Matthew Knight Arena.
Catron went 7 for 12 from the field, hitting fadeaway jumpers, spinning layups and a pair of 3-pointers as Oregon won by its widest margin since also defeating the Cougars 67-37 on Feb. 18, 2006, at McArthur Court.
“Joevan can get it going,” Oregon guard Jay-R Strowbridge said. “We wanted to keep feeding the beast.”
Strowbridge added 15 points off the bench — his most since scoring 18 on opening night — Garrett Sim scored 13 and E.J. Singler had 10 points for the Ducks (11-11, 4-6 Pac-10), who led from the opening basket.
It was Oregon’s fourth win in six games.
“We’re really starting to buy into the system, and it’s paying off for us,” Catron said.
It was a disheartening loss for the Cougars (15-7, 5-5), who were coming off an upset of then-No. 18 Washington last Sunday and needing a strong finish to get off the NCAA tournament bubble.
Asked if the Cougars had a letdown against the Ducks, Washington State forward Abe Lodwick said, “I don’t know what else you could call it.”
Washington State’s Thompson, who leads the Pac-10 at 22.3 points per game and who scored 25 points against the Huskies, was held to 12 points against Oregon on 4 of 13 shooting, including 2 for 8 from the 3-point line.
“It just happens. Gotta be able to play through,” said Thompson, who spoke quietly before he walked away after just two questions.
“Oregon did a great job,” Washington State coach Ken Bone said. “They beat us in pretty much every aspect. I will say this, I don’t think I had our guys ready to go.”
The same could not be said of Oregon, which went up 3-0 on a 3-pointer by Sim 36 seconds into the game and never looked back.
The Ducks led 33-23 at halftime and outscored the Cougars 18-2 in the first seven minutes of the second half to take a 51-35 lead.
Catron scored 10 during that run, including both of his 3-pointers.
“That was a really good stretch for us,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “Joevan was heating up and guys were making plays.”
Oregon led by as many as 29 points — 62-33 — with 9:44 to play.
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