NCAA Tournament: No. 12 Oregon Ducks vs. No. 5 Oklahoma State Cowboys

View the Slideshow >>

(Gallery by Bruce Ely, The Oregonian)

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The Ducks are dancing on.

Arsalan Kazemi had 11 points and 17 rebounding to lead Oregon's dominating performance inside, and the 12

th

-seeded Ducks knocked off No. 5-seed Oklahoma State 68-55 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday afternoon at HP Pavilion.

The Ducks (27-8) advance to the round of 32 for the first time since 2007. They will play Saturday against No. 4 St. Louis, which defeated New Mexico State 64-44 earlier Thursday.

Oregon's smaller point guards frustrated Oklahoma State's Marcus Smart, the national freshman of the year who finished with 14 points.

Damyean Dotson finished with 17 points to continue his impressive postseason play, and fellow freshman Dominic Artis had 13. Senior Carlos Emory added 12 points off the bench for the Ducks, who led 37-26 at halftime.

The Cowboys (24-9) never got closer than 11 points at any point in the second half.

Led by Kazemi, the Ducks outrebounded the Cowboys 45-29.

The Ducks, generally a slow-starting team, had one of its most impressive first halves.

Dotson got Oregon started with three three-pointers in the first 13 minutes. In the final seconds of the half, Kazemi grabbed a rebound off a Dotson miss and put back the reverse layup just before the buzzer, giving the Ducks an 11-point halftime lead.

Dotson had 11 points and Kazemi had 10 points and nine rebounds in the first half.

Oregon went to a zone defenses for short stretches, but it point guards Artis and Johnathan Loyd who took on the bulk of the defensive assignment against Smart, the 6-foot-4, 225-pound Big 12 player of the year.

Smart didn't score his first points until the 7:47 mark of the first half and had with six points, three assists, three steals and three turnovers in the first half.

More to follow.

-- Adam Jude