Final
Resurgent Oregon topples No. 3 Arizona
Mar 9, 2014 - 1:45 AM Eugene, OR (SportsNetwork.com) - Jason Calliste and Johnathan Loyd connected on consecutive 3-pointers during a late 14-1 run as Oregon bolstered its NCAA tournament chances with an upset of No. 3 Arizona on Saturday.Calliste had 18 points and Loyd scored 16 in the Ducks' 64-57 victory -- their seventh straight win to end the regular season.
Their 3-pointers stretched a two-point lead to eight with under three minutes to play. Arizona went almost eight minutes between field goals before T.J. McConnell's three made it a 59-54 game with 1:56 left.
The Wildcats later pulled within four points but missed a chance to get closer when Nick Johnson was blocked down low by Ben Carter. Calliste made two free throws at the other end to make it a 63-57 game with just 28.9 seconds left.
Seven Oregon seniors were honored in their final home game, including Calliste and Loyd, and Ducks coach Dana Altman said the energy in Matthew Knight Arena helped carry his team down the stretch.
"We were able to turn it up with our fans," he said. "The energy those fans produce helped the team. That's why basketball is a home-game sport. We weren't playing that well but our crowd kept us in it."
Senior Mike Moser added 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Ducks (22-8, 10-8 Pac-12), who were seen as a bubble team by many observers coming into the game.
Aaron Gordon scored 21 points to lead the Wildcats (28-3, 15-3), who had a five-game winning streak snapped.
Arizona clinched the Pac-12 regular-season title with a win over Stanford last Sunday and will have a first-round bye in next week's conference tournament.
The Wildcats out-shot Oregon overall 42.3 percent to 41.2 percent but the Ducks made 10 of their 19 3-point attempts.
"You're catching them on senior night with quite a few players playing their last home game," said Arizona coach Sean Miller. "Then, obviously, they're playing for the NCAA tournament. They were a very highly motivated group. With that, I think we would have needed to be at our best today and we weren't."
Arizona led by as many as 12 in the first half and was up 31-29 at the break.
Game Notes
Both teams had 35 rebounds ... Calliste was 4-for-5 on 3-pointers ... Kaleb Tarczewski scored 12 points for Arizona and Johnson had 11.
- ARIZONA: 57
OREGON: 64
Final
Mar 8 6:19 PM - 253
roots - 228
roots - 213
roots - 209
roots - 293
roots - 283
roots - 273
roots - 263
roots - 253
roots - 220
roots - ARIZONA: 31
OREGON: 29
Halftime
Mar 8 5:06 PM - ARIZONA: 0
OREGON: 0
1st Half - 20:00
Mar 8 4:17 PM
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