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Taylor, Oregon stay unbeaten, edge rival Oregon State

Dec 31, 2006 - 6:51 AM CORVALLIS, Oregon (Ticker) -- Bryce Taylor and Oregon wanted to do something the program had not done in nearly 70 years.

Taylor scored 22 points and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds as No. 20 Oregon posted a 76-73 victory over intrastate rival Oregon State in the Pac-10 Conference opener for both schools.

Maarty Leunen had 14 points and Aaron Brooks added 13 and six assists for the Ducks, who started 13-0 for the first time since 1937-38 season.

"If this team is going to be a great team this year, it has to continue to play defense, and I thought that was the difference in the game," Oregon coach Ernie Kent said.

Taylor shot 10-of-16 from the field and Leunen was 3-of-3 from 3-point range for Oregon, which shot 46 percent (25-of-54) in winning here for the first time in three years.

"This is our third road win, with one neutral victory as well, and it was another tough ballgame," Kent said. "We played through some tough situations down the stretch where calls didn't go our way in the last four or five minutes, yet we hung in there, knocked down our free throws."

Marcel Jones and Sasa Cuic each had 16 points and Josh Tarver added 15 and three steals for the Beavers, who shot 52 percent (30-of-58) from the field.

"We had our chances," Oregon State coach Jay John said. "The guys played extremely hard, and defensively, I thought we played well the entire game."

Jones also had 10 rebounds for Oregon State (8-6, 0-1 Pac-10), which has lost nine straight games to Oregon when the Ducks are ranked.

"Offensively, we haven't shot 50 percent against a quality opponent all year, so we did some very good things," John said. "The unfortunate thing is Oregon hit their threes in the end and got to the free-throw line more than we did."