The No. 12 seed Oregon Ducks upset the No. 5 seed Oklahoma State Cowboys and advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament in the Midwest Region Thursday afternoon, 68-55.
The Ducks got a lot of press going into the tournament because many thought their seed was too low after finishing second in the Pac-12 in the regular season and winning the Pac-12 tournament. On Thursday they were the better team pretty much from the start.
Oklahoma State led three times, each time by one point. The last time Oklahoma State had a lead was with 13:42 remaining in the first half. The Ducks took control with an 8-0 run and finished the half up 37-26.
Oregon continued to build its lead early in the second half and led by as much as 16 points four different times throughout the second half. The Cowboys struggled to get anything going and were unable to cut the deficit to single digits.
Damyean Dotson led the Ducks with 17 points. Arsalan Kazemi added 11 points and 17 rebounds. Freshman point guard Dominic Artis had 13 points and four steals. Carlos Emory added 12 points and nine rebounds. The Ducks out rebounded the Cowboys 44-30 and 14-4 on the offensive glass.
Markel Brown led the Cowboys with 16 points. Marcus Smart added 14 points and nine rebounds and Le'Bryan Nash had 10 points.
Oregon will face the No. 4 seed Saint Louis Billikens on Saturday. The time is still to be determined. Saint Louis defeated No. 13 New Mexico State Thursday, 64-44.
For more information, visit www.NCAA.com
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