Eugene, OR (Sports Network) – Joevan Catron scored a game-high 18 points with six rebounds and Malcolm Armstead contributed 14 points, six assists and five steals, as Oregon evened the best-of-three CBI Tournament championship series with a 71-58 victory over Creighton.
E.J. Singler added 10 points for the Ducks (20-18), who will host the winner- take-all Game 3 on Friday.
Jahenns Manigat and Gregory Echenique each scored 10 points for Creighton (23-15), which ventured to the road for the first time in this tournament. The Bluejays had used offense to spur their tournament run, scoring 80 or more points in their four wins before failing to reach 60 on Wednesday. Doug McDermott, who scored 21 points in Game 1, managed just six points on 1-of-4 shooting. Antoine Young, the team’s second leading scorer, managed just two points on 1-of-7 shooting.
Oregon shot a scorching 53.4 percent from the floor and had control for most of the contest. An 8-0 burst capped by Catron’s layup made the score 25-16 with just under five minutes left in the first half, and another layup pushed the margin to 31-19 about two minutes later. Creighton scored just five points in the final six-plus minutes, and saw a one-point deficit turn to a 35-21 game at the half.
The Ducks took all drama out of the contest at the outset of the second half, scoring nine of the first 11 points capped by Garrett Sim’s layup and three- pointer for a 44-23 lead. Oregon cruised to victory from there.
Game Notes
Creighton made 42 percent of its shots and 7-of-18 three-pointers…The Bluejays were done in by 20 turnovers…Sim scored nine points for the Ducks…Oregon beat Creighton back in 1974 in the only meeting between the two programs before this series began.
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