No. 23 Oregon surprises No. 9 Washington State

Aaron Brooks made a layup with 12.9 seconds left Thursday night to clinch No. 23 Oregon’s 64-59 victory over No. 9 Washington State at Eugene, Ore.

The Ducks, 21-7 overall, 9-7 in the Pacific 10 Conference, had lost three in a row and six of their last eight. The victory marked the third time Oregon has defeated a top-10 team this season.

Washington State (22-5, 11-4) had won five in a row since a 77-74 overtime loss to Oregon at Pullman, Wash.

After trailing by as many as 14 points in the first half, Oregon went ahead, 46-43, midway through the second on Bryce Taylor’s three-point basket.

Washington State responded with a 9-0 run, and went ahead, 52-46, on Daven Harmeling’s three-pointer.

Oregon closed to 55-53 on Tajuan Porter’s three-point basket, then went ahead on another Porter three with 3:36 left. Harmeling quickly put the Cougars back up with a dunk.

After Porter made two free throws, Maarty Luenen’s tip-in with under a minute left made it 60-57 for Oregon. After Taylor Rochestie scored for Washington State, Brooks’ key layup put the Ducks up, 62-59, with 12.9 seconds left.

Chamberlain Oguchi made two free throws for Oregon for the final margin.

Porter, who scored 21 points, made four of six three-point baskets. Brooks finished with 16 points.

Harmeling led Washington State with 15 points. Kyle Weaver had 14.

The Ducks have won 13 in a row against the Cougars, and 21 of the last 22. Washington State hasn’t won in Eugene since 1995.

Oregon’s record is its best after 27 games since the “Tall Firs” team that won the NCAA championship was 22-5 in 1938-39.

Oregon State 73, Washington 65 -- The Beavers (11-18, 3-13) entered the game at Corvallis, Ore., two losses from becoming the first Oregon State squad to lose 20 games since 2000-01.

They had 14 steals, four apiece from Josh Tarver and Wesley Washington, and made 27 of 42 free throws.

The Huskies (16-11, 6-9), who entered the game second in the conference in scoring behind Arizona, missed their season average by 13 points.

Marcel Jones’ three-point basket gave the Beavers a 14-point lead midway through the second half, which proved too big a deficit for Washington to recover from, and it got no closer than six points.

The slumping Huskies, who entered the game tied for seventh in the conference with California, have two of their final three regular-season games against ranked teams -- No. 23 Oregon on Saturday and fourth-ranked UCLA a week later.