After a dominating win against Coppin State, the Oregon Ducks kept the winning streak alive against Juwuan Howard Jr. and the Detroit Titans. With eight minutes left in the first half the Ducks and Titans were in a slug fest going at each other’s throats with a flare of 3-points shots and easy lays ups.
Toward the end of the half, the Ducks craned up the intensity and got to the free throw line, which began a move to take control of the game. Starting with a steal and smooth two-handed flush from freshman forward Jordan Bell, the Ducks withstood Detroit’s hot 60% shooting from the arc to go on a nice run to end the first half with the score tied at 35.
Jalil Abdul-Bassit looks to get another stop
Senior Guard Jalil Abdul-Bassit provided a spark off the bench with eight points in 11 minutes to end the first half, six of those points coming within a few seconds to close out the half. Detroit’s guard Anton Wilson put his fingerprints on the game during the first half as well, with 11 points.
The Titans looked to slow the running Ducks down a little by switching to a 2-3 zone defense, but the zone didn’t seem to affect the Ducks at all. Senior guard Abdul-Bassit continued his hot shooting from the 3-point line to push the lead to 64-55 with seven minutes left to play. The Duck dominated the lateral part of the game by crashing the defensive boards and offensive board as well.
Not only did UO crash the boards, but the Ducks got down on defense to create a lot of stops during the course of the game, which helped the Ducks take over. Abdul-Bassit recorded a career high 17 points with 6-8 shooting and 3-5 from beyond the three-point line, also adding six rebounds — and three of those were offensive boards.
Elgin Cook Drives!
” It started in warm-ups and my shot felt good. All you need is to see the ball go through the basket one time and that’s all I needed, but teammates kept telling me to continue to be aggressive, ” Abdul-Bassit stated. Second chance points made a huge difference in the game for the Ducks. The first half the Ducks recorded four second chance points but pushed in 11 second chance points in the second half which blew the game open for the Ducks.
Also contributing to the Ducks win were Dillion Brooks, who finished with 14 points and two rebounds, and senior guard Joseph Young, who had a game high of 22 points and five rebounds. “Our guys feel like we can score. None of them are shy about taking shots — it’s the defense and the boards we have to continue to work on,” quoted Dana Altman. The Oregon Ducks will now prepare for a well-experienced University of Toledo squad on Friday, November 21, 2014 at 4:00 pm.
Top Photo by Craig Strobeck
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