Hairston Paces Ducks in Bahamas Opener

Oregon Ducks' Malik Hairston

NASSAU, Bahamas - Malik Hairston scored 20 of his 29 points in the second half to lead Oregon past the Shockers, a Bahaminan club team, 108-69 Sunday in the Ducks’ first of five exhibition games to be played in the island nation.

The Ducks made 45-of-75 field goal attempts overall, despite hitting only 8-of-31 from three-point range. Oregon had 32 assists on its 45 field goals.

“I thought it was a good opening game for us to get our legs back,” said Oregon coach Ernie Kent. “We continued to share the ball exceptionally well and we could have scored even more if we hadn’t have struggled from the three a little bit.”

Hairston, a junior from Detroit, Mich., also had nine rebounds and eight assists and was one of three Ducks to score 20 or more points. Junior forward Maarty Leunen and senior guard Adrian Stelly each added 21 for Oregon.

Leunen, a junior from Redmond, had a double-double with a team high 12 rebounds to help the Ducks forge a 45-20 rebounding edge.

In the first half, Leunen scored 15 points, while Aaron Brooks added 12 as the Ducks built a 51-33 halftime lead.

Brooks, a senior from Seattle, Wash., finished the game with 18 points and nine assists. Stelly was the other big Oregon contributor in the second half, scoring 16 points after intermission.

Other than Leunen, the Duck frontcourt had a hard time matching up against the smaller Shockers. Senior forward Adam Zahn came off the bench to record 10 points and 10 rebounds, while junior posts Mitch Platt and Ray Schafer added five and four points, respectively, to round out Oregon’s scoring.

“It was a tough game for our big guys because they were going against players who were a lot smaller and quicker than they were,” said Kent. “But it did give us a good opportunity to work on our match-up zone defense.”

Junior Bryce Taylor, recovering from mild right ankle sprain sustained Wednesday during practice, was held out of Sunday’s game. Sophomore Churchill Odia (knee) also did not play.

Oregon will face another Bahamian club team, the Wolverines, Monday night.

Scoring: Oregon 108 (45-75, 8-31, 10-15) – Hairston 29, Leunen 21, Platt 5, Brooks 18, Stelly 21, Zahn 10, Scharfer 4. Rebounds: Oregon 45 – Leunen 12, Zahn 10, Hairston 9, Schafer 5, Platt 4, Stelly 3. Assists: Oregon 32 – Brooks 9, Hairston 8, Leunen 5, Stelly 3, Platt 3, Schafer 3, Zahn 1.

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