Mar 18, 2007, 22:10 GMT
Spokane, WA - Aaron Brooks poured in 22 points and Tajuan Porter added 14, as Oregon ended Winthrop's NCAA Tournament ride with a 75-61 victory in the second round of the Midwest Region.
Winthrop stunned sixth-seeded Notre Dame in the first round on Friday, but the Big South champion Eagles were unable to sustain their play against the Pac-10 tourney champs.
'When this magic carpet ride comes to an end it ends rather abruptly and it's not an easy thing to accept, said Winthrop coach Gregg Marshall. 'Certainly don't have to like it. We ran into a very hot team today. Especially two hot guards that played very, very well and shot it in from very deep.'
Malik Hairston chipped in 13 points and Maarty Leunen contributed 12 for the third-seeded Ducks (28-7), who have won eight straight games and will next take on seventh-seeded UNLV in the regional semifinals on Friday in St. Louis. UNLV surprised second-seeded Wisconsin on Sunday in Chicago.
Oregon last reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in 2002, eventually falling to Kansas in the Midwest Regional final.
Torrell Martin scored 15 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for Winthrop (29-5), which had a 19-game winning streak stopped and lost for the first time since a 71-51 setback against Texas A&M on January 2.
The Eagles trailed just 33-29 at the break, but Porter drilled a pair of three-pointers and scored all eight Oregon points during an 8-2 burst to start the second half. His second three just two minutes into the stanza gave the Ducks a 41-31 advantage.
A Leunen dunk a few moments later extended the Oregon cushion to 13 points and Winthrop managed to pull within nine, but Brooks canned a pair of shots from beyond the arc as part of another 8-2 spurt that pushed the lead to 15 with just under 9 1/2 minutes left.
Winthrop got only as close as 11 from there and Oregon led by as many as 19 down the stretch.
'You know, we heard quite a bit over the last couple days about our defense and we feel like we're really a good defensive team, said Oregon coach Ernie Kent. 'Particularly in the last six or seven games we held people under 40 percent shoot with the matchup and the man defense and this team did a great job of rising to the challenge and really defending a very good basketball team at the other end of the floor and that was the difference in the game today, it was just our defense.'
The first half was tight, as Winthrop led on a few occasions. A three-pointer by Martin gave the Eagles a 17-14 advantage eight minutes into the contest and they led by six at 23-17 a few minutes later.
Brooks drained a three-pointer with just over three minutes left in the half to give Oregon a 29-27 lead, before Hairston and Leunen followed with buckets to make it a six-point margin. A jumper by DeAndre Adams sent Winthrop into the break down just four.
The Ducks finished 11-of-23 from three-point range, led by a 5-for-9 effort from Brooks and a 4-of-8 performance from Porter.
Game Notes
Oregon shot 48.2 percent overall, while Winthrop struggled at just 39.3 percent...Chris Gaynor scored 12 points and Craig Bradshaw added 10 for Winthrop, which won an NCAA Tournament game for the first time in seven tries with its upset of Notre Dame on Friday...The Eagles were also the last double- digit seed to be eliminated, marking the first time a team seeded 10 or higher did not at least make a regional semifinal since the 1995 tournament.
© 2007 The Sports Network
Game Notes.
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