Dante leads Oregon past Washington State in 2nd half 74-60

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — N’Faly Dante scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half as Oregon capitalized on a 13-2 run to start a 74-60 win over Washington State in Thursday’s Pac-12 conference opener Night.

The game was played within four points in the first 26 minutes. TJ Bamba had a dunk and a three-point game to put the Cougars 44-40 ahead. Will Richardson reclaimed those points in a similar fashion, and after a final lead at Washington State, the Ducks scored eight points in a row. A layup by Dante gave the Ducks a 53-46 lead with 11:08 to play.

Starting near the five-minute mark, Dante made three quick baskets, the last two dunks, and the score was 68-54. The Cougars went six minutes without a basket and missed five shots with four turnovers.

Richardson had 17 points for the Ducks (4-4) and Quincy Guerrier had 12. Richardson had eight assists and three steals and Dante had seven rebounds.

Mouhamed Gueye scored 19 points for Washington State (4-4), which averaged 11 3-pointers but finished 3 of 14 behind the arc. Bamba added 14 points but missed his only 3 and ended up with 56.5%. Jabe Mullins, a 57% long-range shooter, missed the game with a knee problem.

The first half ended stuck at 32 with nine draws and five lead changes. Almost every stat was a tie, but Gueye bagged 17 points for Washington State on 7-of-9 shooting. No other cougar had more than four points.

Gueye only got three shots in the second half while Dante was 8 of 10 for the Ducks.

Washington State travels home on Sunday for a game against Utah, which defeated No. 4 Arizona on Thursday. Oregon goes to the 21st UCLA on Sunday.