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Taylor pushes Oregon to upset of Georgetown

Nov 30, 2006 - 2:49 AM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- The first trip to the nation's capital for Bryce Taylor and Oregon proved quite productive.

Taylor scored nine of his 13 points in the second half as the Ducks used a late push to capture a 57-50 victory over No. 23 Georgetown.

Collecting its first win over a ranked foe in the Eastern time zone in 10 seasons under coach Ernie Kent, Oregon (6-0) avenged a 71-57 loss to the Big East squad at home last December.

"This is something we have been thinking about for a while," Taylor said. "(The Hoyas) have a program with lots of tradition and post players with NBA potential."

The victory did come at a price for the Ducks, who lost starting guard Chamberlain Oguchi with 17:42 left in the second half with a serious ankle sprain.

Taylor, who shot 6-of-13 from the field, picked up the slack, scoring nine straight points at one point, giving the Ducks a 39-37 edge with 10:49 to play.

"For some reason I do not play well in the first half," Taylor said. "I tried to get some layups and easy baskets to get my confidence going and play better in the second half."

Malik Hairston, who was playing in his first game this season due to a groin injury, sank two free throws and had a layup before Taylor added another jumper for a 45-41 advantage with 4:19 left.

Hairston, who led the team in scoring last season at 15.0 points per game, sank a jumper and Maarty Leunen had a steal and layup to make it 49-41 with 2:47 left, capping an 8-2 run.

"We got great shots in the first half and just didn't make them," said Kent, whose team shot 55 percent (12-of-22) in the second half. "It was just a matter of making them relax at halftime and then come out in the second half with more confidence."

Hairston ended up with eight points in 27 minutes off the bench and Aaron Brooks scored 15 for Oregon, which began a season with six straight wins for the first time since 2002-03.

Jonathan Wallace scored 17 points for Georgetown (4-2), which managed just 25 points in each half, shooting 45 percent (22-of-49) and committing 17 turnovers.

"Our offense was not good, and it hasn't been," Hoyas coach John Thompson III said. "We have to figure it out. We're tentative. We're not sure of where we're going, what we're doing."

The Ducks were able to lock down the Hoyas' offense by limiting 7-foot Roy Hibbert to just four points on 2-of-7 shooting and three rebounds. The sophomore entered the contest averaging 13.8 points along with 6.8 boards.

By keeping Hibbert in check, Oregon also managed to hold its own in rebounding, pulling down 13 offensive boards despite losing the battle by a slim 34-33 margin.

The Ducks did it without having any starters over 6-9. Leunen, who bottled up Hibbert along with 6-10 reserve Mitch Platt, scored eight points and pulled down eight rebounds.

"The difference tonight was Maarty Leunen," Kent said. "He did an excellent job in the middle against Hibbert. His athletic ability allowed us to pull (Hibbert) away from the basket on defense."