LAS VEGAS – Similar to their last meeting, Washington came out firing and top-seeded Oregon came out slow. Up as much as 12 in the first half, it was the younger, lower-seeded Huskies doing the punching early in the second round of the Pac-12 tournament.
It wasn’t thanks to its senior leader Andrew Andrews, though, who finished with just two points in that first half.
It was Marquese Chriss and David Crisp doing the beating. The two were scorching from deep early, combining 5-for-9 and 25 total points in the first half. Around the 12-minute mark, Crisp hit three straight threes at the peak of Washington’s run.
Everything seemed to be going Washington’s way.
“We didn’t get off to a good start,” Dana Altman said. “Washington came out and hit us pretty good. They got out to that big lead and that was very concerning.”
That was until Chris Boucher snapped Oregon out of its funk in front of a rowdy MGM Grand Garden Arena.
With just under five minutes to go in the first half, Boucher knocked down an open three on the wing to bring the game back to single digits. The next possession, he snagged an offensive rebound off of a Dillon Brooks miss and put it back in. To top it all off, Boucher then followed with a momentum-shifting block that led to breakaway layup.
“Sometimes it’s me, sometimes it’s Elgin, sometimes it’s Dwayne, everybody can play,” Boucher said. “Today, it was my turn.”
By the end of it all, Oregon had rallied behind Boucher and unloaded with a crucial 13-0 run late in the half that saw Washington hit a four-minute dry spell.
Boucher finished with a team-high 19 points, 11 rebounds, and had all three of his team’s blocks.
“He just did his job,” Brooks said.
At the half, Oregon edged Washington by just one point.
Anyone not named Boucher struggled in the first half. That includes freshman Tyler Dorsey who posted just four points on 2-of-8 shooting.
But like his team, he started to get into his groove in the second half.
On three separate occasions, Dorsey splashed home a critical three in the second half when the game was within four points. He ended with 17 points on 6-of-15 shooting.
Eventually, Dillon Brooks and Elgin Cook, Oregon’s seasoned starters, got it going, too. Scoring 12 of Oregon’s last 19 points, the two returners with tournament experience, took over when the game slowed down and possessions got tighter.
Brooks finished with 15 points and eight rebounds, while Cook added 19 points.
With 41 seconds left and Oregon holding a 79-77 edge, Dorsey ultimately ended the game, pulling down a crucial offensive rebound that forced Washington to foul.
“I knew it was going up, my man didn’t box me out,” Dorsey said. “I just went to the glass and snatched the rebound. It came right into my hands.”
Afterwards, he knocked down a pair of free-throws to give Oregon just enough cushion to grind out the win.
“No pressure,” Dorsey said about heading to the line with just a two-point lead. “I want to be at the line at the end of the game. I knew I was going to knock them down. I told the Washington players I wasn’t going to miss.”
All season, Dana Altman and his players have been embracing not having a traditional go-to superstar. Most of the time this approach has worked. A few times, it’s resulted in blowout losses. But today, it was one of those many games that reminded why Oregon is the No. 8 ranked team and top seed in this year’s conference tournament.
“It’s great, especially for tournaments like this,” Dylan Ennis said about Oregon’s balanced approach. “All year, you have a week to get prepared for a team. But here, it’s day-to-day. When you have so many guys, it gives you so much more options to go to somebody that gets it going.”
Oregon’s biggest woe this game came in an area where its been rock solid all year long: turnovers. Finishing with 14 turnovers to nine assists, Oregon knows it will have to take better care of the ball in the next round.
“We got to take care of the ball,” Ennis said. “If we can take of the ball, share the ball more, we’ll be fine.”
Oregon’s semifinal matchup with Arizona is scheduled for a 6:15 p.m. tip and will be aired on the Pac-12 Network. Arizona is coming off an 82-78 win over Colorado.
“They needed that win bad and we needed it as well to keep playing,” Dorsey said. “It got a little chippy, but that’s how every game is going to be. We just have to be the tougher team.”
Follow Hayden Kim on Twitter @HayDayKim