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The wonders never ceased Saturday at Matthew Knight Arena. There was nearly a full house on hand, for starters, as Oregon hosted USC and the athletic department held its “Appreciation Knight” in honor of donor Phil Knight. The Ducks, who have battled seasonlong issues on the defensive end, beat the Trojans 78-66 on the strength of 22 forced turnovers. By the end, Oregon’s typically stoic head coach, Dana Altman, even poked some fun at his own team, and said it was “the first time I’ve laughed in a month.” Such was Oregon’s relief at winning at home for the first time in conference play this season, making the Ducks 15-6 overall and 3-6 in the Pac-12. With a season-high 11,178 fans in attendance, all clutching commemorative Phil Knight bobbleheads to mark the occasion, that meant 22,356 heads collectively nodding in appreciation of Oregon’s victory to close out this season’s first round of conference play.
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Hallice Cooke scored a career-high 20 points and Eric Moreland added a double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds as Oregon State took down UCLA, 71-67, on Sunday afternoon at Gill Coliseum. The win improved the Beavers to 13-8 overall and 5-4 in Pac-12 play, their best record at the midway point of conference play since 1999.
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Nine Oregon State players scored, including three in double figures, and the Beavers used a well-rounded effort to defeat Arizona, 64-50, at the McKale Center in Tucson on Sunday afternoon. The win, which moves OSU’s record to 13-9 overall and 5-5 in conference, was the Beavers’ second straight road win over the Wildcats , something they had only done once before in 1988-89.
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The Oregon women’s basketball team pushed Arizona State to the brink, but the No. 15 ranked Sun Devils topped the Ducks, 97-94, on Sunday afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena. The Ducks fall to 12-9 (3-7 Pac-12) after the loss while the second-place Sun Devils improve to 19-3 (8-2).
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Dakotah Keys led the group of four Ducks on his way to winning the heptathlon on the second day of the UW Invitational, Saturday. Keys (Sweet Home) finished with 5,730 points which is the third-highest score in the NCAA this season and the second-highest score of his career. Oregon was well-represented in the field as Mitch Modin (Mtn. View), Alec Fellows and Blake Kemp (Marshfield) finished 3-5, respectively. Modin, a freshman, was competing in the heptathlon for the first time of his collegiate career and finished with 5,171 points. Fellows and Kemp tallied 5,104 and 5,017 points, respectively. The Ducks will have a week off before splitting up for the Don Kirby Elite (Feb. 14-15) and the Husky Classic (Feb. 14-15).
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In the second indoor meet of the season, the Oregon State track and field team saw marked improvements across the board at the UW Invite in Seattle over the weekend, posting four top-10 finishes and a number of PRs at Dempsey Indoor. “You can never complain about improvement,” Oregon State assistant coach Travis Floeck said. “You always want to be moving forward and we saw that this weekend. We really are still working out some of the kinks and bettering technique, but our student-athletes are getting the opportunity to compete and get in right mindset to set them up for success in outdoor season. It shows we are getting better and I expect the same thing in two weeks.” Stevie Coury had arguably the best performance for OSU on Saturday when he earned a berth in the finals of the 60m dash, winning his preliminary heat with a 6.89. In the final, the football wideout matched up with three Olympians, including Ryan Bailey, and ran 6.90 to come in eighth overall. Coury, who had a limited track background at Lake Oswego High School, has now won two of the three career races at OSU, finishing first in both of his prelim heats in the 60m at the UW Indoor Preview and UW Invite. His time of 6.89 on Saturday bettered his effort from two weeks ago by 12 hundredths of a second.