Ducks say so long to sixth after second-half struggle.

Byline: Bob Clark The Register-Guard

LOS ANGELES - Well, that settles that.

After keeping sixth place and a bye on the opening night of the Pac-10 tournament alive as a goal with three wins in its previous four games, Oregon now knows that it will play its first game in the league tournament at the Staples Center on March 8 as the seventh seed, opening against the 10th seeded-team.

That was decided in about a 10-minute span of the second half on Sunday at Pauley Pavilion, when 19th-ranked UCLA throttled the Oregon offense on the way to a 70-53 victory that gave the Bruins sole possession of first place in the Pac-10 as 11,643 watched in person, along with a regional television audience.

Because of the loss, the Ducks can do no better than tie USC for sixth in the final standings, and the Trojans hold the edge in the tiebreaker that determines seeding for the conference tournament.

Oregon held the edge on the Bruins until its first 14 possessions of the second half resulted in six points. The Ducks were 2-of-10 from the field during that span, and also committed four turnovers. Even two of the four free throws they attempted bounced out.

From a 28-23 halftime lead, Oregon (7-10 in the Pac-10, 13-16 overall) found itself in a 46-34 deficit.

`They came out and closed down a lot of things,' Oregon's Aaron Brooks said. `They're definitely a good defensive team. You know you've got to knock down shots when you get open looks.'

Rare as those were in the second half Sunday.

After shooting .542 in the opening 20 minutes, the Ducks shot .296 in the final 20. They were 2-of-11 on their three-pointers in the second half.

`I just didn't feel we had our legs as much as we needed to have them,' UO coach Ernie Kent said. The Bruins, he added, `stepped up to another level energy-wise, and we did not step up there with them.'

With their defense controlling the Ducks so effectively, the Bruins (12-4, 22-6) also got their offense going. They ended up shooting .625 in the final 20 minutes, their second-best shooting in a half this season, bettered only by their .750 performance on Thursday against Oregon State.

`We've had two great second halves in a row,' UCLA coach Ben Howland said. `The defense keys your ability' to do that.

In their final two home games, the Bruins outscored OSU and the Ducks by a cumulative tally of 99-53 in the second half, including 47-25 on Sunday. From being seven ahead with under 10 seconds left in the first half, the Ducks went down by the widest margin since a 78-59 loss at Washington.

`We were just fantastic in the first half and expended a lot of energy being fantastic,' Kent said. `That's some of the best defense we've played to take a good team like that and shut them down.'

After that?

`We played so hard defensively Thursday (in beating USC), we played so hard in the first half (against UCLA),' Kent said, that it wore his team out. `Our shots were coming up short. That tells you they were leg weary' in the second half.

While no UCLA players logged more than 15 minutes in the first half - partly because the Bruins altered their starting lineup to honor their four seniors - there were four of the Oregon starters on the court for 14 or more minutes in the first half, including 19 each for Brooks and Malik Hairston and 17 for Chamberlain Oguchi.

Hairston played another 18 minutes in the second half, when he was 1-of-8 from the field to finish 3-of-13. Oguchi also played 18 more minutes in the second half, when he missed his six shots to finish 3-of-12. Those two were also a combined 1-of-10 on three-point shots in the game.

The one Duck who didn't appear fatigued was Brooks, who was in for 39 minutes - including the entire second half - and led Oregon on scoring with 19 points on 7-of-13 from the field. He also had five assists and his third consecutive game without a turnover.

`He's had two back-to-back phenomenal games, to score like that and with no turnovers,' Kent said. `I thought he was great.'

About the only consistent offense Oregon showed in the second half was when Brooks scored 10 of his points and set up Brandon Lincoln for a dunk in a span of four minutes, but all that accomplished was bringing the Ducks from 12 behind to within 58-49.

`We just had to be more aggressive,' Brooks said. Against UCLA's defense, he added, `you've only got a second that you're going to be open,' so better to take what's there than have the defender shut it off.

For the first half and the first five minutes of the second half, the Ducks made it equally as difficult for the Bruins, mostly with a zone defense. But UCLA caught on to that, and drew even with the Ducks at 30-30 on a three-pointer by Michael Roll from the left corner. Roll then gave the Bruins the lead for good on the next possession with a three from the right corner.

`When Roll hit those threes, it changed the whole momentum of the game,' Brooks said.

That was all the scoring Roll did, but fellow reserves Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Arron Afflalo, taken out of the starting lineup to afford a couple of the seniors their chance to be on the court for the opening tip, each scored 14 points off the bench. Mbah a Moute also added a game-high 10 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season, the most ever by a UCLA freshman.

GAME REPORT: OREGON MEN VS. UCLA

Notes: The five assists for Aaron Brooks give him 312 for his career and moved him past Mike Drummond (309) for seventh on the Oregon all-time list. Brooks is only three behind Terrell Brandon for sixth. The UO record is 614, held by Kenya Wilkins ... Oregon is now 12-3 in games it led at halftime ... The Ducks are 1-5 this season against teams ranked in the Top 25 at the time of the game ... Chamberlain Oguchi's eight rebounds led the Ducks and were a career high for the sophomore.

Key Stat: UCLA shot 62.5 percent (15-of-24) in the second half while the Ducks had a 29.6 shooting percentage (8-of-27).

Next: The Ducks play at Oregon State on Saturday at 5 p.m. The game will be televised live on the Beaver Sports Network (KVAL in the Eugene-Springfield area).

UCLA 70, Oregon 53

OREGON (53)

Mp Fg Ft R F A To S Tp

Hairston ... 37 3-13 0-0 3 4 4 1 0 6

Kent ... 30 3-5 0-2 6 3 0 3 2 6

Schafer ... 23 2-3 2-2 2 1 1 1 0 6

Brooks ... 39 7-13 2-3 4 3 5 0 0 19

Oguchi ... 35 3-12 3-4 8 2 2 3 2 10

Leunen ... 12 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0

Lincoln ... 14 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 2

Zahn ... 5 1-1 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 2

Johnson ... 5 1-2 0-0 1 3 0 1 0 2

Totals ... 200 21-51 7-11 26 17 12 12 4 53

Shooting: Field goals 41.2%, 3-point baskets - 4-15 (Brooks 3-5, Oguchi 1-6, Hairston 0-4). Team rebounds - 2. Team turnovers - 1. Blocked shots - 2 (Schafer, Oguchi).

UCLA (70)

Mp Fg Ft R F A To S Tp

Hollins ... 21 3-5 1-2 2 2 0 0 0 7

Bozeman ... 25 1-2 6-6 3 1 3 0 0 8

Fey ... 5 1-1 0-0 2 1 0 0 0 2

Farmar ... 30 4-10 2-3 5 1 5 2 0 11

Rubin ... 4 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Collison ... 13 1-5 0-0 0 1 2 1 0 2

Afflalo ... 30 5-8 3-3 3 1 2 1 0 14

DRobinson ... 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Wright ... 6 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 1 0 0

Aboya ... 19 3-5 0-0 4 3 0 2 1 6

Roll ... 14 2-3 0-0 0 2 0 1 0 6

Kim ... 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0

MbhMoute ... 30 5-6 4-4 10 1 1 3 1 14

NRobinson ... 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Totals ... 200 25-47 16-18 31 14 13 11 2 70

Shooting: Field goals 53.2%, 3-point baskets - 4-14 (Roll 2-3, Farmar 1-4, Afflalo 1-3, Collison 0-2, Bozeman 0-1, Rubin 0-1). Team rebounds - 2. Blocked shots - 3 (Hollins 2, Aboya).

Oregon ... 28 25 - 53

UCLA ... 23 47 - 70

Officials - Verne Harris, Randy McCall, Martin Cota.

Attendance - 11,463.

CAPTION(S):

UCLA's Alfred Aboya lays the ball in over Oregon's Malik Hairston during the Bruins' dominating second half. UCLA beat the Ducks 70-53 to take over the Pac-10 lead. Francis Specker / The Associated Press Oregon's Malik Hairston goes up for a shot during the first half. Hairston was 1-for-8 from the field in the second half, when the Ducks shot 29.6 percent.