Pritchard scores 20 as Oregon rolls past Ball State 95-71
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) – Payton Pritchard scored a career-high 20 points and Elijah Brown had 17 off the bench as Oregon cruised to a 95-71 victory over Ball State on Sunday night.
Pritchard, the starting point guard as a freshman on last year’s Final Four team, also had eight assists for the Ducks (4-0), who upped the nation’s longest home winning streak to 46 games. Victor Bailey added 16 points and MiKyle McIntosh had 13.
Tayler Persons led the Cardinals (1-3) with 14 points and Kyle Mallers had 10.
Oregon took control after trailing by five with a 14-0 run and outscored Ball State 35-8 over a 12-minute span over both halves. Pritchard had 12 points in the second half.
Troy Brown’s eight rebounds led the Ducks to a 45-31 edge on the boards. Oregon shot 31 of 63 overall (49.2 percent), including 10 of 25 on 3-pointers.
The Cardinals were just 7 of 27 beyond the arc (25.9 percent), their worst effort from long range of the season.
BIG PICTURE
Oregon: The Ducks played their first of five 20-win nonconference opponents from last year in Ball State, and that doesn’t include possible games against No. 2 Michigan State or No. 9 North Carolina at the PK80 Invitational that starts Thanksgiving Day in Portland.
Ball State: The Cardinals, who are coming off their first back-to-back 20-win seasons in nearly a quarter century, play five of their first six games on the road, covering 7,500 miles in the process.
UP NEXT
Ball State: Makes the longest leg of its road trip that includes five games in 11 days to face Bucknell on Wednesday.
Oregon: Plays UConn on Thanksgiving night in the first round of the PK80 Invitational in Portland. The teams met last year at the Maui Invitational, with the Ducks prevailing 79-69.
