EUGENE, Ore. — Chris Duarte scored 18 points and Will Richardson scored 5 of his 11 in the last 61 second and Oregon defeated Colorado 60-56 on Thursday night.
In a game where neither team had a double-figure lead, the Ducks took a 55-53 lead with 1:51 to play when 50% free-throw shooter Chandler Lawson made a pair from the line.
After a Colorado miss, Oregon ran the clock down before Richardson made a spinning floater in the lane with 1:01 to go.
Another miss led to two Richardson free throws with 33 seconds to go, making it 59-53 — the Ducks’ biggest lead — before D’Shawn Schwartz knocked down a 3 for Colorado. Richardson’s free throw at 20.8 seconds wrapped it up.
Eugene Omoruyi added 13 points for Oregon (13-4, 8-3 Pac-12 Conference), which won its fourth-straight.
Schwartz had 16 points and 11 rebounds to lead Colorado (16-7, 10-6), which lost back-to-back games for the first time this season after losing to last-place California on Saturday. The Buffalos, who topped Oregon at home 79-72, have lost six-straight at Oregon.
Colorado, which makes at least 40% from 3-point range in its wins and 30% or less in its losses, went 6 of 27 (22%) from 3-oint range and a dismal 34% (21 of 61) overall. The Buffalos also lead the league with just 10.9 turnovers but fumbled away 17 possessions the Ducks turned into 22 points, negating a 43-29 rebounding advantage.
Colorado never trailed and had a possession with an eight-point lead in a defensive first half, using 10 points from Schwartz to take a 30-25 lead. Shooting was even but the Buffalos had two fewer turnovers (8-6) and three more offensive rebounds (7-4) to get up five more shots, just enough to make a difference.
Oregon shot 50% in the second half, taking its first lead with 11:44 to play on a Duarte layup that made it 44-43 in the midst of a 9-0 run.
Colorado goes to Oregon State on Saturday while the Ducks play host to Utah and just had a COVID-19 makeup game with No. 17 USC scheduled for Monday.
