Chris Duarte scored 24 points and sparked a second-half rally that powered Oregon past Stanford, 71-68, on Thursday in Stanford, Calif.

Oregon (15-5, 10-4 Pac-12 Conference) fell behind midway through the second half after surrendering a 13-4 run. But Duarte threw down a vicious dunk on which he was fouled by Spencer Jones, stemming the tide of Stanford’s outburst.

Another Duarte dunk a few minutes later ignited a 7-1 Ducks run that gave them the lead for good.

Four Ducks scored in double-figures, with LJ Figueroa posting 13 points, all of which came in the first half. Eugene Omoruyi posted a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Eric Williams Jr. scored 10 points.

Chandler Lawson came off the bench to add nine points in 18 minutes.

The win keeps Oregon in the hunt for the Pac-12 regular-season championship. USC — which beat Oregon on Monday — lost to Colorado on Thursday, dropping the Trojans into a second-place tie in the loss column with the Ducks.

UCLA leads the league heading into the final stretch. Oregon hosts the Bruins on March 3, part of a whirlwind eight games in 17 days for the Ducks due to COVID-19-related hiatuses earlier in the season.

Stanford (14-10, 10-8) took a hit to its NCAA Tournament aspirations with the loss Thursday, its second in a row. The Cardinal had a clean look at a would-be, game-winning 3-pointer, but Ziaire Williams’ attempt from the corner rimmed off with four seconds remaining.

Williams was one of four Cardinal in double-figures scoring with 12 points. Jaiden Delaire led Stanford with 15 points, Daejon Davis had 13 points, and Jones scored 11.

Stanford was without leading scorer Oscar da Silva, who was scratched from the lineup just before tipoff due to an injury sustained earlier in the week in practice.

–Field Level Media