The Cal Bears forward Monty Bowser (2) takes the ball down the floor against the Oregon Ducks at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene Or on Thu Mar 2, 2023 (CK Hicks Cal Bears photo)
By Michael Duca and Morris Phillips
The Oregon Ducks (17-13) ran all over the visiting Cal Bears (3-27) in Eugene on Thursday night 84-51 With the win the Ducks picked up their second straight win. The Cal defense all they could do is watch the Ducks run past them as the Ducks had five players finish in double figures.
The Ducks Jermain Couisnard led the with 17 points, the Ducks shot 55% from the field and out rebounded Cal 45-21. The Ducks scored 42 points in each of the first and second halves. Cal’s Sam Alajiki was the only Cal player to finish in double figures with 11 points. Alajiki was followed up by Grant Newell nine points, and Lar Thiemann with nine points.
The Bears Joel Brown had seven points and Thiemann returned after sitting out the last game against Washington State on Feb 25th at UC Berkeley. Thiemann finished tied for second in scoring and came off the bench to do it in less than 23 minutes.
One of the keys to the Ducks success Thursday night was they hit six 3 pointers and shot 59% in the opening 20 minutes of the ball game against the Bears giving the Ducks a 42-26 lead after the first half of the game. The closest the Bears got in this contest was within five points with 6:32 left in the first half. The Ducks then went on a 12-4 run and led by double figures and putting much put the game out of reach for Cal the rest of the way.
The Bears will try and close out the regular season with a win against the Oregon State Beavers (10-20) this game might be the Bears best chance to get back in the win column. The Beavers have been struggling losing their last game to Stanford 83-60 on Thursday night and having lost four in a row and nine of their last ten games. Tip off is 5:00pm in Corvallis this Saturday night.