Final: Oregon 76, UCLA 68: Tyler Dorsey scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and the Oregon Ducks rallied from a halftime deficit to beat UCLA 76-68 on Wednesday night in Los Angeles.

With the victory, the Ducks clinch the No. 1 seed in the Pac-12 tournament next week and at least a share of the regular-season conference title. They wrap up the regular season on Saturday at USC.

Here's how the game unfolded ...

Second half updates: The Oregon Ducks continue to lead it late. Bryce Alford's three-pointer pulls UCLA to within 69-65. Under two minutes to play, Tyler Dorsey's putback gives Oregon a six-point lead, and then the Ducks get a turnover and slow things down to milk clock. No bucket, however, and Alford drains another three on the other end for the Bruins to narrow the Ducks' lead to 71-68. UCLA uses its last timeout with 58.3 seconds to play. The Ducks drain the clock, then Dillon Brooks hits a deep three-pointer to put Oregon up 74-68 with 29 seconds left. That should seal it. The Ducks win 76-68.

... Dwayne Benjamin's free throws gave Oregon a 63-59 advantage with 5:08 to play, but Tony Parker's and-one bucket and free throw pulled UCLA back within one. Dillon Brooks then hit a jumper to give the Ducks a 65-62 lead. A Jordan Bell dunk then gave Oregon a five-point lead, at 67-62, and the Bruins called timeout with 3:34 left.

... Back and forth they go, and with 6:53 to play, the Ducks hold a 59-57 edge. The Ducks' shooting has improved dramatically in the second half, going from 35.7 percent in the first half to 55 percent in the second half.

... Tyler Dorsey hit a three early in the half to pull Oregon within 38-36. But the Ducks also had five turnovers in the first five minutes of the half, and UCLA continues to lead it, 45-41. After the Bruins extended their lead to seven at 48-41, Oregon went on a 7-0 run and tied the game at 48-48 on Elgin Cook's layup with 13:19 to play. Cook steals and dunks to give the Ducks a 50-48 lead.

Halftime: UCLA 38, Oregon 33: A back-and-forth game early has given way to a Bruins advantage late in the half. The Ducks led by as many as six points, at 19-13, but UCLA took the lead on a Bryce Alford three-pointer at the 8:28 mark to go up 23-21. The Bruins extended their lead to 32-25 on Alford's and-one layup, and then Tony Parker's dunk for UCLA gave the Bruins a nine-point lead and triggered an Oregon timeout with 4:23 left in the half. ... Oregon pulled to within 38-33 on Elgin Cook's free throws just before the half. Tyler Dorsey leads the Ducks with 13 points, and Cook has eight. For the Bruins, Parker has 11 points and Isaac Hamilton has 10. ... The Ducks shot just 35.7 percent in the first half, while UCLA made 54.8 percent of its shots.

---

Game information:



No. 9 Oregon vs. UCLA

Time: 6 p.m.

Where: Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, California

On air: ESPN 2, 970 AM Portland, 95.3 FM Eugene

KenPom rankings: Oregon: 19; UCLA: 58

Projected starters:

Oregon (23-6, 12-4)

Elgin Cook, 6-6, Sr. (14.2 ppg, 4.6 rpg)

Dillon Brooks, 6-7, So. (17.2 ppg, 5.7 rpg)

Chris Boucher, 6-10, Sr. (12.5 ppg, 7.7 rpg)

Casey Benson, 6-3, So. (5.9 ppg, 3.1 apg)

Tyler Dorsey, 6-4, Fr. (12.8 ppg, 4.1 rpg)

UCLA (15-14, 6-10)

Tony Parker, 6-9, Sr. (12.6 ppg, 8.5 rpg)

Johan Bolden, 6-10, So. (4.6 ppg, 5.0 rpg)

Bryce Alford, 6-3, Jr. (16.2 ppg, 5.4 apg)

Aaron Holiday, 6-1, Fr. (10.5 ppg, 4.0 apg)

Isaac Hamilton, 6-5, Jr. (16.9 ppg, 4.3 rpg)

Preview:

For one team, everything is on the table.

For the other, well, it's the opposite.

The Oregon Ducks say they won't be thinking about it like that tonight at Pauley Pavilion.

Yes, the Ducks can secure at least a share of their first conference title since 2002 tonight. Yes, they can clinch the No.1 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament tonight.

And yes, UCLA has been a mess as of late.

But despite Oregon's current three-game winning streak, it was just a couple of weeks ago when the Ducks had all the momentum in the world before laying an egg in the Bay Area.

That's why Oregon players say they have to focus on the game tonight, not what it means.

"We just want to finish out strong and take our home mentality on the road," Oregon senior Elgin Cook said.

That wouldn't be a bad starting point. The Ducks just finished up their first undefeated home season in 14 years with Sunday's win over Washington, a win that catapulted the Ducks into the the top 10 with their current No. 9 ranking. But, as has been catalogued, the Ducks have been hard to a get a handle on when on the road. All six of Oregon's losses this season have been away from home and the Ducks have a tendency of coming out flat in the opening half and needing to play catchup in the final 20 minutes. The Ducks have shown they can compete on the road, with wins at Arizona and Utah serving as shining beacons, but they'd like to develop consistency. Every game from here on out is away from Eugene and the goals, senior Dwayne Benjamin said, need to be narrowed.

"Our main focus in just trying to win on Wednesday," Benjamin said. "That's all we're talking about right now."

If they can do that, people will be talking about a lot more. Oregon currently has a half-game lead on Utah and a full-game lead on Cal. Because of tie breakers, a win tonight would secure the No. 1-seed in the Pac-12 Tournament and at least a share of the conference title. A win against UCLA and against USC on Saturday would clinch an outright conference title. A win and a loss, coupled with losses from Cal and Utah this week would do the same.

And UCLA is about as far away from that conversation as you can get. This was once a team that knocked off then-No. 1 Kentucky, but has been a mess during conference play. The Bruins will finish the Pac-12 with a below-.500 conference record and their only shot at making the NCAA Tournament would seem to be a Pac-12 Tournament win. Oregon has already beaten the Bruins handily this year, and things have gotten so bad in Westwood that senior guard Bryce Alford described the Bruins as 'kind of a lost cause' over the weekend.

But UCLA has talent in Alford and big man Tony Parker and the Ducks say they don't plan on overlooking the Bruins. Even if they can see the shimmer of a Pac-12 trophy just over top.

"Their talent hasn't changed since we saw them last. They are still a very talented group and it's a long season," Oregon coach Dana Altman said. "...I'm sure Steve is reminding his guys that they have beaten some really good teams. We are going to have to play well, there is no doubt about it."

Links:

Oregon defense looks to disrupt Bruins.

Ducks keep the focus on UCLA.

UCLA needs a miracle to keep season going.

Ducks rise to No. 9.

Ducks hold off Huskies.

-- Tyson Alger

talger@oregonian.com

@tysonalger