Oregon romps past NAIA Concordia (Ore.) 94-63

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) The closer they got to the rim, the better things looked for Joseph Young and his Oregon teammates on Wednesday night.

Young scored 20 points and Elgin Cook added 19 to lead the Ducks to a 94-63 victory over Concordia with their best shooting effort since a season-opening win over Coppin State.

Oregon (5-2) scored 66 points in the paint as Young was 10 of 13 inside the 3-point line and Cook, the only starter to pass up a 3, was 9 of 10. The Ducks were 37 of 54 (68.5 percent) inside the arc against the Cavaliers (8-2), an NAIA team from Portland.

Beyond it, they missed 18 of their first 20 attempts and finished 5 of 26 (19.2 percent). Young, who was 2 of 16 in his last two games, missed all five of his 3s.

''He's got to pick and choose, he's got to get back on track, he's got to get back in the gym and get some shots up,'' said Oregon coach Dana Altman, whose senior guard spent 30 minutes after the game on the court doing just that. ''Every shooter goes through it.''

Thomas Pierce led Concordia with 16 points, and Kory Kirwan added 12 off the bench.

Two Oregon freshmen finished with double-doubles for the second consecutive game. Dillon Brooks had 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Jordan Bell added 10 points and 11 rebounds off the bench.

''Dillon's got really good instincts,'' Altman said. ''He's got a knack for scoring. He's just scratching the surface, and it's just a matter of how good he wants to be, how hard he wants to work.

''He's got to play a lot harder, but there's no one arguing his talent or his ability to score or his basketball savvy.''

Oregon stuck with its rotation of eight scholarship players until the 8-minute mark of the second half with a 75-52 lead. The Ducks' largest lead was 92-58 on Young's final field goal with 3:45 left.

Oregon made plenty of noise from close range in the first half for a 47-26 lead at the break, but it still couldn't resist the temptation of the 3-point line.

Even though 36 of their points came in the paint, the Ducks also jacked up 16 3s and made just one while going 20-for-29 on their other attempts.

Dwayne Benjamin, who missed the last two games with an ankle injury suffered during a loss to Michigan, came off the bench for 11 points and six rebounds in 20 minutes.

With Benjamin's return, Altman said he's pleased with his team's depth as it prepares to face Mississippi and Illinois over the next 10 days. Oregon defeated both the Rebels and Illini last season.

''We're going to have our hands full and have to make sure we're preparing for the future,'' he said. ''We've got plenty of depth. Our guys have got to concentrate on playing a heckuva harder in the minutes they're getting.''

TIP-INS

Concordia: The Cavaliers, ranked 10th in NAIA Division II, open Cascade Collegiate Conference play at home Friday against No. 15 Southern Oregon, the preseason conference runner-up in the coaches' poll. Concordia was picked third.

Oregon: Young's streak of consecutive free throws ended at 36 when he missed his first attempt late in the first half. . The Ducks started three freshmen for the third straight game. . Brooks is the only Duck to score in double figures in all seven games.

A QUIET HOUSE

Wednesday's announced crowd of 4,909 was the second smallest in the brief history of Oregon's 12,364-seat Matthew Knight Arena, which opened in January 2011. Still, it was 2,005 more than the combined attendance for Concordia's first nine games.

LOOKING FOR MORE

Altman, a stickler for defensive intensity, was lamenting what he considered his players' lack of it with two teams looking for revenge next up for the Ducks. ''We're taking way too many possessions off,'' he said. ''I don't know if we've got guys just pacing themselves, thinking they're going to be out there for a long period or whatever. We've got to sharpen a lot of things up.''

UP NEXT

Concordia hosts Southern Oregon on Friday night.

Oregon hosts Mississippi on Sunday.