Oregon Holds Off Miami (Ohio)

Ducks 58, RedHawks 56

Oregon guard Aaron Brooks puts up a shot as Miami of Ohio forward Tim Pollitz (50) defends and Oregon forward Maarty Leunen (10) looks on in the first half Friday, March 16, 2007, at Spokane Arena in Spokane, Wash., in an NCAA Midwest Regional first-round basketball game. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) (Rick Bowmer - AP)

SPOKANE, Wash. -- At the start and at the end, Oregon kept its poise. The look of concern and worry never showed up. Not when the Ducks were down 9-0 and scoreless for nearly 4 minutes. And especially not at the end, when patient and prodding Miami of Ohio started to chip away at an 11-point deficit.

The third-seeded Ducks rallied from their early deficit behind the 18 points of Aaron Brooks, and Oregon matched the RedHawks' grinding style to pull out a 58-56 win on Friday in the Midwest Regional.

"Even in the huddles coming down the stretch, you never had a sense that they were going to lose the game," Oregon coach Ernie Kent said. "They were going to make the plays, get the stop necessary and knock down the free throws to win the game."

That's exactly what Oregon did, though it never was easy for the Ducks. Oregon won its first tournament game since 2002, when it ran to the regional finals.

While Oregon (27-7) is still an offensive power, its defense that has been the key to a late season resurgence, and now seven-game win streak.

Oregon will face 11th-seeded Winthrop in the second round on Sunday. Winthrop beat Notre Dame 74-64 earlier Friday.

"Everybody knows we like to get out in transition and score lots of points. But to do that, you've got to get stops," said Maarty Leunen, who scored 13 for Oregon. "We weren't getting stops (earlier) in the season."

Meanwhile, the RedHawks (18-15) weren't distraught or inconsolable after this loss, and really, why should they be? Getting into the tournament was a shock anyway, after Doug Penno's bank-shot 3-pointer in the final seconds gave Miami the Mid-American Conference title a week ago.

On Friday, the RedHawks scored the first nine points, went scoreless for nearly 10 minutes and still worked their way back to have a chance to tie in the final 10 seconds. But Michael Bramos' was forced into a difficult fallaway 25-foot 3-point chance by Oregon's Joevan Catron. The shot hit off the front rim, Leunen grabbed the rebound, was fouled and hit a pair of free throws with 2 seconds left.

Of course, those free throws became important, since Bramos swished a desperation half-court shot at the buzzer for the final margin.

"Boy, did I want that to go in," Miami coach Charlie Coles said of the 3-pointer that missed. "I looked and said `please go in, please go in.' And it didn't."

Tim Pollitz scored 21 points and Bramos added 18 for the RedHawks, who were in the tournament for the first time since 1999 when Wally Szczerbiak carried a 10th-seeded Miami to the round of 16.