Doug Haller

azcentral sports

Arizona State’s final contest of the Pac-12’s first half unfolded similarly to most of the others. The Sun Devils showed they could compete for a significant stretch but not for the entire 40 minutes, which is not good enough in this conference.

Oregon’s Chris Boucher flirted with a triple-double and the Pac-12-leading Ducks pulled away in the second half for a 91-74 win in front of 6,670 at Wells Fargo Arena. Completing the desert road sweep, No. 23 Oregon improved to 18-4 and 7-2 in the conference.

ASU arrives at the midpoint at 12-10 and 2-7, not yet a team in crisis, but one that’s on the doorstep. The Sun Devils – at a talent disadvantage most nights – have been competitive, they just can’t sustain it. They led Arizona early by nine before losing by 12. They battled USC, UCLA, Washington, Cal and Stanford to the final minutes before losing.

“It’s hard to really say that it’s been a failure,” Hurley said of ASU’s first half, “but the record is clearly not what we had hoped. We’re below what our expectations were. … The games that you are in (when) it’s close inside two minutes, you got to grab them if you can.”

BOX SCORE: Oregon 91, ASU 74

Sunday was not much different.

ASU trailed just 37-36 at halftime and 70-63 with six minutes to go, but lost any chance of a comeback in an avalanche of turnovers and Oregon run outs. Not helping: Hurley’s fifth technical foul of the season, which helped Oregon boost its lead to 10. Less than two minutes later, the Ducks led 79-63.

“We didn’t stay together in some spurts in the second half,” senior guard Gerry Blakes said. “… For some reason, we tried to make 1-on-1 plays.”

Boucher was “flawless,” Hurley said. The 6-9 forward posted a career-high 26 points (with a career-high four 3-pointers), 10 rebounds and seven blocked shots. Sophomore Dillon Brooks – a Pac-12 Player of the Year candidate – delivered his usual relentless effort with 18 points. Oregon shot 65 percent in the second half and 50.9 for the game. The Ducks made 29 of 38 from the foul line, hitting 9 of 9 in the first 105 seconds of the second half.

“I’ll have to watch the tape and see about the fouls,” Hurley said. “Nine free throws in (1:45), that’s quite a bit.”

Junior forward Obinna Oleka led ASU with 17 points. Blakes added 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists. The Sun Devils shot 39.3 percent from the field and attempted only 17 free throws, making 14. Their biggest issue: 17 turnovers that led to 29 Oregon points.

“Our traps bothered (ASU) a bit and took their offense out of some stuff,” said Oregon coach Dana Altman, who last Thursday snapped Arizona’s 49-game home win streak.

Coming off its best offensive performance of the season, ASU fell into a 13-0 hole. The Sun Devils missed their first seven shots. Boucher – the nation’s No. 4 shot blocker – rejected three. It marked the sixth time in nine conference games the Sun Devils had trailed by double-digits in the first half, but unlike previous times, they didn’t wait until the second half to rally.

Oleka – averaging 13.2 points over his last five games – scored five in a row. Later, Blakes scored five points during a 9-0 run to bring ASU within 16-14. Hurley turned and clapped to his bench, sophomore guard Kodi Justice stood and waved a towel.

With seven minutes left in the half, senior center Eric Jacobsen took a nice entry pass from Justice and dunked to knot the contest 20-20. Entering the game, ASU had dunked eight times in eight games. Jacobsen’s dunk was its fourth in 12 minutes.

Tra Holder, Gerry Blakes improvement key for ASU

Oregon led 37-36 at halftime, but ASU – outscoring the Ducks 36-24 over the half’s final 15 minutes – had momentum. Unfortunately for the Sun Devils, it didn’t carry over to the second half.

“This game was winnable for some part of it and it got away from us,” Hurley said. “But you look back and reflect on the Cal game, the UCLA game, the USC game, the Stanford game – games you had real chances to win inside two minutes and we didn’t get it done. That’s part of the reason we’re looking at the record we have right now.”

Note

ASU played without Maurice O’Field. According to a team spokesman, the sophomore forward has been suspended indefinitely. O’Field played two minutes in Thursday’s win over Oregon State. Overall, he averaged 0.6 points in 7.5 minutes.

O’Field is the third ASU player to be suspended this season. Junior forward Savon Goodman missed four games during the non-conference season. Junior guard Torian Graham – sitting out this season because of NCAA transfer rules – is currently not with the team after he violated team rules.

Without O’Field, ASU played Oregon with eight healthy/eligible scholarship players.