Wei Lin and Fred Payne gave Oregon exactly the kind of backcourt punch it needed Friday, and the Ducks turned that into a comfortable 98-71 win over Eastern Washington at Matthew Knight Arena.
Lin paced Oregon with 20 points on 7 of 9 shooting, while Payne added 16 points and two assists as the Ducks improved to 2-0. Malique Ewin filled up the stat sheet with 10 points, seven assists and seven rebounds, and Pharaoh Compton was perfect from the floor, going 6 of 6 for 13 points.
Oregon’s offense was humming all afternoon, finishing at 60.9% from the field and repeatedly getting out in transition for easy looks at the rim. With junior guard Tyrone Riley IV sidelined by the hand injury he suffered in the opener against Montana, the Ducks needed other guards to handle the load, and they did.
Payne and Taylor Bol Bowen helped Oregon jump out to a 10-6 edge, but Eastern Washington answered with a stretch of timely threes to pull even at 19 and briefly move in front midway through the first half. The Ducks settled back in from there, with Bol Bowen stringing together three straight assists to help push Oregon ahead 29-27 in a first half that stayed tight for a while.
That changed when Oregon found a rhythm through Ewin and Payne inside and out. The Ducks ripped off an 11-0 run to open some breathing room at 47-35, then carried a 53-39 lead into halftime. Eight different Oregon players had scored by the break.
The second half started the same way the first one ended, with Oregon forcing turnovers and turning them into points. A 7-0 burst, capped by an Andrew Meadow three, stretched the lead to 62-41 and sent Eastern Washington to the timeout.
The Eagles answered with a quick 8-0 run in 82 seconds to trim the margin back to 13 with 15:02 left, but Lin shut that down in a hurry. He scored nine straight points, knocking down two threes and finishing an and-one in the lane to put Oregon ahead 70-52.
Lin struck again later, drilling another three to spark a 9-0 run that made it 81-58 with 8:06 remaining. From there, Oregon kept the pressure on, worked freshman Tajh Ariza into the offense down the stretch and kept Eastern Washington off the board for long stretches. The closing minutes were all Ducks, with lob dunks and fast-break finishes putting the finishing touch on a one-sided win.
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