Ducks roll Tide 92-69
LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) - Michael Dunigan and Joevan Catron had their second double-doubles of the season to lead Oregon to a 92-69 victory over Alabama on Monday night in the opening round of the EA Sports Maui Invitational.
The Ducks (3-1) will play No. 1 North Carolina, which beat Chaminade 115-70, in the semifinals on Tuesday.
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Dunigan, a freshman, had 18 points and 10 rebounds and Catron, a junior, had 17 points and 13 rebounds as Oregon overcame a horrible early shooting performance to win convincingly. They both had double-doubles in the Ducks' overtime home loss to Oakland last week.
Senario Hillman had 16 points for the Crimson Tide (1-2), which hurt itself at the free throw line going 26-of-41, while Oregon went 21-of-29.
Alabama scored the game's first eight points and was ahead 12-3 as Oregon made just one of its first eight shots from the field. Matthew Humphrey's two 3-pointers were the Ducks' only field goals over the first 10 minutes of the game as the rest of the team missed all nine shots they took.
Oregon led 39-36 at halftime, rallying to shoot 42.3 percent for the opening 20 minutes (11-of-26). The Ducks kept up the hot shooting in the second half and took control, opening a 67-48 lead with 10:18 to play.
Tajuan Porter, Oregon's 5-foot-6 co-leading scorer with a 15.0 average on 44 percent shooting from 3-point range, missed his first nine shots from behind the arc. He made his first two to cap an 8-0 run that gave the Ducks the 19-point lead halfway through the second half.
Alabama, which shot 46.2 percent in the first half (12-of-26), suddenly became the team that couldn't make a field goal. The Crimson Tide managed one basket over a 4-minute span in the second half when Porter and the Ducks started heating up.
Porter finished with 12 points and was 2-for-11 from 3-point range and Oregon finished 9-of-24 from behind the arc.
Ronald Steele added 13 points for Alabama, which was 3-of-12 on 3-pointers.
Both schools are making their first appearance in the tournament.