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EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Joseph Young just missed a triple double with 29 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists as Oregon spoiled the return of former coach Ernie Kent with a 95-72 victory over Washington State on Sunday.
Dwayne Benjamin added 25 points for Oregon (17-7, 7-4 Pac-12), which raced to a 52-28 halftime lead on the way to its fifth win in its last six games.
Benjamin finished 10 of 11 from the field and was perfect on three 3-point attempts. He started in place of leading rebounder Jordan Bell, who served his one-game suspension due an incident that took place on campus earlier this week.
Dexter Kernick-Drew led the Cougars (10-13, 4-7) with 18 points off the bench. Josh Hawkinson added 14 and DaVonte Lacy had 13.
Oregon's lead ballooned to a high of 32 on the strength of 11 points by Benjamin in the first 3 ½ minutes of the second half.
The victory avenged the Ducks' 108-99 overtime loss to Washington State in Pullman last month.
It also ruined the homecoming for WSU coach Kent, who was coaching for the first time in 4-year-old Matthew Knight Arena after being fired by Oregon in 2010 after 13 seasons in McArthur Court, then the nation's oldest on-campus basketball facility.
Young made three of Oregon's 11 3-pointers, but he also had four three-point plays the old-fashioned way — and a soaring dunk for good measure.
The Pac-12's second-leading scorer just missed his fourth 30-point game of the season, coming off a 32-point effort in a win against Washington that made him the fifth active NCAA Division I player with more than 2,000 career points.
The Cougars already trailed 12-0 before Jordan Railey flipped in a reverse layup off a teammate's airball for their first points. When Young's 3-point play made it 20-4 with less than seven minutes gone, all five Oregon starters had scored.
Another 3-point play by Young, after drawing Lacy's third foul, put the Ducks up 31-7 and gave Washington State a new goal of just trying to keep pace with the Oregon senior.
When Young went to the bench after his third three-point play, he was up by four points on the Cougars, and the Ducks had their largest lead of the half at 38-10 with 5:47 left.
TIP-INS
Washington State: Davonte Lacy's 13 points gave him 1,412 for his career to pass Brian Quinnett for 10th on the Cougars' all-time scoring list. Lacy also had three 3-pointers and is now third on WSU's career list with 233. He needs nine more to catch NBA All-Star Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors for the school record.
Oregon: Coach Dana Altman suspended Bell for Sunday's game after he was cited for harassment for interfering with a campus parking officer who was attempting to place a parking citation on Bell's vehicle last week. "I have already apologized personally to the parking officer and want to also make a public apology," the 6-foot-9 freshman from Long Beach, California, said in a pregame statement released by the Oregon athletic department. Bell is expected back for Wednesday's game at USC.
UP NEXT
Washington State hosts Arizona State on Friday night.
Oregon plays at USC on Wednesday night.
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