By John Nadel
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES – Regular-season champion Oregon played like an also-ran for most of the first half in the first Pacific-10 Conference tournament game in 12 years.
The second half was a different matter.
Luke Jackson scored 16 of his 27 points after halftime, and leading scorer Frederick Jones also got going in the final 20 minutes Thursday as the ninth-ranked Ducks beat Washington 86-64.
The win was Oregon’s sixth straight and gave the top-seeded Ducks (23-7) their most victories in a season since 1945, when they won 30 games.
Jackson, who also had eight rebounds, made all of his career-high four 3-pointers in the second half, which began with the Huskies leading 42-35.
The Ducks, who trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half, moved within one on 3-pointers by Jackson and Jones to begin the second half. Jones’ field goal was his first of the game.
A steal and dunk by Jones with 13:59 left gave Oregon its first lead since the opening eight minutes, and a 3-pointer by Jackson 35 seconds later snapped a 47-all tie and put the Ducks ahead for good.
A 3-pointer by Mark Michaelis and a three-point play by Jones with 10:02 remaining extended Oregon’s lead to 61-51, and two foul shots by Jones a little over two minutes later made it 68-55.
The Huskies didn’t threaten after that.
Jones scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half, and Luke Ridnour had 11 points and six assists for the Ducks.
Doug Wrenn led the Huskies (11-18) with 14 points and seven rebounds, but had only two points in the final 25 1/2 minutes. David Dixon added 12 points, and Erroll Knight scored 10 for Washington.
A 3-pointer by Wrenn with 5:44 left before halftime capped a 23-8 run and gave the eighth-seeded Huskies a 31-18 lead.
Copyright ©2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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