No. 13 Oregon rallies but falls short

Rodney Pryor had 26 points and 10 rebounds, and Georgetown withstood a furious second-half rally to hold on for a 65-61 victory over No. 13 Oregon on Monday in the first round of the Maui Invitational at Lahaina, Hawaii.

Georgetown (1-2) led by 17 points after a superb first half, capped by Pryor’s running three-point shot at the buzzer. The Ducks (2-2) swarmed their way back, using pressure defense to create turnovers and easy baskets in transition.

Unlike in their loss to Maryland last week, the Hoyas weathered the Ducks’ storm and advanced to the second round to face No. 16 Wisconsin, a 74-62 winner over Tennessee.

LJ Peak scored 17 points for Georgetown and hit two free throws with 2.7 seconds to play, sealing the victory.

Payton Pritchard led Oregon with 18 points. Dillon Brooks had eight points in his first game of the season, including a long three-point basket with 3.8 seconds left to close the deficit to two points.

Brooks didn’t play in Oregon’s first three games after off-season foot surgery and Coach Dana Altman said that he would limit the preseason All-American’s minutes in Maui.

Brooks checked in about five minutes into the game but didn’t do much to help the struggling Ducks.

Oregon needed six minutes to finally make a shot and kept missing, making only seven of 29 in the first half. Brooks missed all three of his shots and did not score.

The Hoyas had their own problems early, but rallied behind Pryor.

He hit two step-back three-pointers late in the first half and closed the half with a running, off-balance three at the buzzer to give Georgetown a 38-21 lead.

In other selected games involving top-25 teams:

No. 5 Kansas 83, Alabama Birmingham 63: Josh Jackson had 22 points and teammates Frank Mason III and Devonte Graham were nearly as productive as the Jayhawks (3-1) won easily in the CBE Classic semifinals at Kansas City, Mo.

Mason finished with 20 points and Graham had 16 for Kansas, which advanced to play Georgia for the title Tuesday night.

The Bulldogs defeated George Washington, 81-73, in the other semifinal.

at No. 8 Arizona 75, Northern Colorado 55: Lauri Markkanen scored 17 points, Parker Jackson-Cartwright had 15 points and a career-high 11 assists and the unbeaten Wildcats pulled away over the final 121/2 minutes.

Kadeem Allen added 10 for the Wildcats (4-0).

Gerard Davis scored 20 for Northern Colorado (1-3).

No. 12 Creighton 86, Mississippi 77: Marcus Foster scored 25 points to lead the Bluejays, who improved to 5-0 by rallying in the second half to win the championship game of the Paradise Jam tournament at St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Northwestern 77, No. 22 Texas 58: Bryant McIntosh had 20 points and five assists to lead the Wildcats (3-1) in the semifinals of the Legends Classic at New York.

They’ll play Notre Dame for the title Tuesday.

SOUTHLAND

MEN

Central Michigan 88, Pepperdine 77: The Waves (3-1) trailed by a point, 40-39, early in the second half but the Chippewas (4-0) went on a 19-4 run in the Lone Star Showcase at Cedar Park, Texas, on Monday night. Pepperdine’s Lamond Murray Jr. scored 25 points; Central Michigan’s Marcus Keene had 36.

MEN TONIGHT

Pepperdine vs. Ark. Little Rock (Lone Star Showcase, Cedar Park, Texas), 5:30 p.m. PST

UC Santa Barbara at Southern Methodist, 6 p.m.

Long Beach State at Washington, 8 p.m.

WOMEN TONIGHT

USC vs. Missouri State (Great Alaska Shootout, Anchorage, Alaska), 6:30 p.m.