Takeaways from Oregon men's dramatic final second win against Oregon State
Dramatic wins at Gill Coliseum are becoming the norm for Oregon.
N’Faly Dante’s two-handed slam with 1.0 second remaining gave the Ducks a 60-58 victory against Oregon State Saturday night in a Pac-12 men’s basketball game.
For the third straight season, Oregon’s last shot was the winning shot against the Beavers in Corvallis.
In 2022, Eric Williams’ 3-pointer with 12.4 seconds left sent the Ducks to a 78-76 win.
In 2023, Rivalso Soares hit a jumper in the final second to lift Oregon to a 69-67 victory.
Saturday, it was Dante’s turn to be the hero.
After Oregon State’s Jordan Pope tied the score with a pair of free throws with 40.8 seconds to play, the Ducks had a frantic final possession that included three shots and two offensive rebounds — both from reserve guard Brennan Rigsby.
The first attempt was a missed jumper by Jermaine Couisnard with 12 seconds left. Rigsby grabbed the board and put up a shot that was off the mark. He then grabbed his own miss and kicked out to Couisnard on the perimeter.
Couisnard drove to the basket, and as the Oregon State defense collapsed on him, he dished it to Dante, who emphatically finished with an uncontested jam then ran back down court flexing as the crowd of 7,574 fell silent.
“We found a way,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said during his postgame radio appearance on KUJZ-FM. “Again, it’s February. You got to. … But we gotta get better.”
Oregon's starters carry the load
The thrilling finish came after the Ducks (17-8, 9-5 Pac-12), who led 36-24 at halftime, gave up a 13-point lead in the final 5:47.
It also came on a night they went 2-for-19 from 3-point range and got zero points from their bench.
But then, Oregon’s starters didn’t need much help.
Dante finished with 22 points — one point shy of his career high — six rebounds and two blocks. Jackson Shelstad had 15 points and Couisnard had 13 points and eight rebounds.
Jadrian Tracey also contributed eight points, eight rebounds and five assists.
Lucky for the Ducks, the Beavers (11-15, 3-12) weren’t any better from deep as they made just 2-of-18 from 3-point range and also had no points from their bench.
Michael Rataj led Oregon State with 17 points while star guard Jordan Pope scored just 10 on 4-of-17 shooting, including 0-for-7 from 3.
Ducks dominate inside
The two offensive rebounds on Oregon’s final possession highlighted what was an impressive rebounding performance overall for the Ducks, who beat the Beavers 40-30 on the boards.
That included 16 offensive rebounds that led to 18 second-chance points for Oregon.
Not surprisingly, with the 6-11 Dante leading the way, the Ducks also dominated inside with 44 points in the paint to 28 for the Beavers.
What’s next for Oregon
The Ducks are tied for third place in the Pac-12 standings with UCLA, though that will change on Sunday after the Bruins play Utah at 4 p.m.
Depending on how UCLA does, Oregon will either be in third place by a half game over UCLA, or a half game behind in fourth place.
It's an important distinction with six games left in the regular season for the Ducks as a top-four finish would give them a first-round pass in the Pac-12 Tournament.
Oregon stays on the road this week as it heads to the Bay Area for games at Stanford (12-13, 7-8) at 8 p.m. Thursday on ESPN2, and at California (11-15, 7-8) at 4 p.m. Saturday on the Pac-12 Networks.
Follow Chris Hansen on Twitter @chansen_RG or email at chansen@registerguard.com.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Last-second dunk takes Oregon Ducks men's basketball past Oregon State
