No. 17 Oregon Ducks knocks off No. 16 Colorado 68-60

EUGENE - The No. 17 Oregon men’s basketball team rallied to beat No. 16 Colorado 68-60 in a battle for first place in the Pac-12 conference. With the win Oregon moved into a tie for first place with Colorado. Dana Altman Oregon’s head coach tied John Wooden for 28th on the NCAA D-1 all-time wins list with 664 wins. “We control our own destiny,” Altman said. “We have four games at home and two on the road. Every game now is big, when your tied in the standings." Oregon led 13-10 with 11:49 remaining in the first half but Colorado went on a 20-3 run to make it 30-16. The Ducks trailed 35-26 after the first half shooting 32.3% from the field while Colorado shot 48.3%, hitting six 3-pointers. A Will Richardson layup made it 51-49 Colorado as the Ducks nearly erased the halftime deficit with 9:57 to play in the second half. “We couldn’t get the press set and got steals and couldn’t finish in the first half,” Altman said. “The crowd gave us a lot of energy in the second half, it was a great atmosphere. Second chance points were huge for us. We battled them and their a good team. The guys continued to grind it out and found a way.” A Peyton Pritchard 3-pointer made it 58-56 as Colorado clung to a lead. A pair of Richardson free throws tied the game at 58-58 with 4:18 remaining. A Richardson 3-pointer put the Ducks ahead 61-58 as they never looked back. Richardson ended with 21 points and nine rebounds. “My coaches told me to keep being aggressive, don’t worry about stats or percentages.” Richardson said. “The crowd helped us get going in the second half. We held them to 25 points in the second half. We’re trying to turn it around now. It takes time with all of our transfers and our team to realize it takes doing the little things.” Pritchard had six assists all in the second half along with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Pritchard won his 100th career game, already the all-time leader in games won. Oregon plays Utah at home on Sunday at 6 p.m.