Jackson Shelstad scored 17 points on 7-of-11-shooting to help Fifth-seeded Oregon Trouce 12-seeded Liberty 81-52 on Friday night in the East Region first round in the NCAA tournament in Seattle.
Nate Bittle contributed 14 points and 10 returns and Keeshawn Barthelemy added 10 points for Ducks (25-9), who never dragged while he won for the ninth time in the last 10 games.
Oregon will play fourth-seeded Arizona on Sunday for a place in Sweet 16. The ducks and Wildcats were part of the same conference until both teams left PAC-12 before the football season in 2024.
Zach Cleveland had 10 points, six returns and six assists for Liberty (28-7), who lost for just the second time in the last 13 games.
Oregon has won at least one game in each of the last nine NCAA tournaments.
The ducks shot 54.4 percent from the field, including 10 out of 21 from 3-point intervals. Tj Bamba had four of Oregon’s 11 steal.
Liberty made 32.8 percent of his pictures and connected to a gloomy 8 out of 37 behind the bow.
Shelstad got 15 first half points to help Oregon keep a lead of 44-20 at the break.
Shelstad counted eight points in a game opening 18-2 burst when the ducks immediately took the control.
Shelstad buried a jumper halfway through half to make it 27-8.
Liberty moved within 13 before Bittle got seven straight points to give the ducks a lead of 34-14 with 5:17 left in half.
Shelstad had a personal 5-0 driving to end half, struck a jumper with 41 seconds left and drilled a ten second with five seconds left to make it a 24-point margin.
Brandon Angel’s basketball made it 50-24 with 17:39 left in the game.
The flames received seven of the next nine points with Taelon Peter’s 3-pointer who reduced the deficit to 21 by 14:42.
Kwame Evans JR made a hook shot to put the lead over 30 for the first time at 62-31 with 9:57 to play.
Big Man Bittle dropped a Trey to get the lead back to 30 with 5:02 left. Oregon led by as many as 34 as he finished his spelling attack.
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