Oregon Stuns UCLA In Pac-10 Quarterfinals
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- E.J. Singler scored a career-high 24 points and Oregon routed second-seeded UCLA 76-59 in the Pac-10 tournament quarterfinals on Thursday night.
The seventh-seeded Ducks (16-16) advanced to Friday's semifinals against either No. 3 seed Washington or sixth-seeded Washington State, which met later at Staples Center.
Tyler Honeycutt scored 19 points to lead the Bruins (22-10), who swept Oregon in the regular season but never dented their double-digit deficit in the second half.
Oregon reached the semifinals for the first time since 2007, when the Ducks won the tournament. Malcolm Armstead added 13 points and Garrett Sim 10 for the lowest remaining seeded team.
Singler had a career-high 22 points in the Ducks' win over Arizona State on Wednesday, and he was just as consistent against the Bruins.
He keyed an 11-2 spurt with five points midway through the second half that pushed Oregon's lead to 22 points, equaling their largest of the game.
The Bruins shot 35 percent from the floor, and failed to generate anything more than an 8-0 run that failed to get them closer than the 10 points they trailed by early in the second half.
Reeves Nelson had 10 rebounds, but just seven points and didn't score his first basket until the start of the second half.
The loss was a stunning letdown for UCLA, which won nine of its last 11 to close the regular season and is bidding to return to the NCAA tournament after missing out last year.
Oregon outscored UCLA 27-10 to end the first half ahead 38-24.
The Ducks were buoyed by Sim banking in a 3-pointer at the buzzer and they came bouncing out of the locker room to start the final 20 minutes.
The Ducks put together runs of 6-0 and 10-0 as they seized control of a run-and-gun game.
The Bruins, who took a 14-11 lead to start the game, shot 25 percent in the half.
UCLA was hit with a rare technical for too many players on the floor, then lost the ball on a shot-clock violation in its next possession.
The Bruins made just one field goal in the final 7:44.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
