USC Falls To Oregon In Arena Opener

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) -- Johnathan Loyd scored 12 points and Oregon held on after nearly blowing all of a 20-point lead in the second half Thursday to beat USC 68 62 on opening night of Matthew Knight Arena.

Malcolm Armstead added 11 points and E.J. Singler and Tyrone Nared had 10 points each for the Ducks (8-9, 1-4 Pac-10), who snapped a six-game losing streak and christened their $227 million, state-of-the-art arena with a victory in front of a sellout crowd of 12,364.

They did it despite not making a field goal in the final nine minutes. The Trojans (10-7, 2-2), who trailed 57-37 at the 11:51 mark, cut their deficit to 65-61 with 1:42 left. But Armstead and Singler combined to go 3 for 6 from the free-throw line in the final 30 seconds for Oregon.

Donte Smith scored 13 points -- all in the first half -- to lead the Trojans.

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