Brooks steps up in Hawaii, leads No. 24 Oregon past Navy
HONOLULU — With Tyler Dorsey, Oregon's leading scorer, out against Navy on Monday night, Dillon Brooks followed coach Dana Altman's orders.
Brooks, a 6-foot-7 senior forward, scored 19 points to lead four Oregon players in double figures and the 24th-ranked Ducks prevailed 67-47 in the Pearl Harbor Invitational.
Dorsey, who is averaging 14.4 points and 2.9 assists per game, did not play due to a knee injury suffered in Oregon's 80-69 loss to UNLV just three days earlier.
Brooks, who finished 7 of 14 from the field, had 13 points by halftime.
Dwayne Benjamin scored 16 points, Chris Boucher had a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds and Casey Benson added 10 points for the Ducks (7-1).
''Coach said that I had to step up,'' Brooks said. ''Tyler Dorsey was scoring a lot for us so people had to come in and score. Dwayne was shooting it well, Elgin (Cook) was playing well, Casey had a couple buckets, Trevor (Manuel) came in and played hard and it was just like next man up.''
Oregon shot 47 percent from the field and was 13 of 16 from the free-throw line. It got 20 points off 18 Navy turnovers and registered a season-high 14 steals.
''It was a big focus for us to be really active on defense,'' Benson said. ''We knew that they like to take a lot of time on their possessions so we couldn't relax. We focused on having active hands and getting deflections; that's a lot of what we talked about before the game and during the game, to get hands on balls and getting stops was key for us.''
Will Kelly had 13 points and eight rebounds and Jace Hogan added 10 points for the Midshipmen (7-3), who saw their seven-game winning streak snapped.
Navy, whose bench outscored Oregon's 22-0, never led in the game.
Oregon led 36-23 at halftime.
It was the first meeting between the schools.
Navy got as close as 45-38 on a 3-pointer by Bryce Dulin with 10:03 to play, but Benjamin answered with a 3 on Oregon's next possession to ignite a 7-2 run.
Oregon came into the game ranked 15th in the nation in blocks per game and improved upon that mark with eight against Navy. Manuel, a reserve forward had four blocks and Boucher, who is second in the nation in blocks per game, had three.
Boucher set a school record with nine blocks in a win over Arkansas State on Nov. 25.
''We take a lot of pride in taking away buckets — it's just like a bucket for us — and it gets us going and it gets us going in transition,'' Brooks said.
Of Navy's 35 rebounds, 16 came on the offensive glass.
However, the Midshipmen were just 9 of 18 from the free-throw line.
The Midshipmen shot just 32 percent from the field and were 2 of 14 on 3-point attempts.
''Oregon is very good. We knew coming into the game with their speed, athleticism and their length that it was really going to be a problem for us and it was,'' Navy coach Ed DeChellis said. ''They're a very good team. I thought we played very hard, I thought we competed, we just didn't play well. We missed a lot of 1-foot shots, we had 16 offensive rebounds, (but) we just didn't turn them into any points.''
It was the 609th consecutive game that the Ducks made at least one 3-pointer, a streak that dates to Feb. 6, 1997.
TIP-INS
Oregon: It was the second time in three seasons that the Ducks participated in a game to honor the nation's military. They defeated Georgetown 82-75 in the Armed Forces Challenge at Camp Humphreys in South Korea to open the 2013 season.
Navy: The 47 points were the fewest in a game since a 59-41 loss to Florida to open the season on Nov. 13.
SALUTE THE TROOPS
The game was the feature matchup of a doubleheader in the inaugural event played at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on the 74th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. No. 7 Oklahoma defeated No. 9 Villanova 78-55 in the early game.
''In the case of Oklahoma, they're representing one of the ships that was sunk here at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7 (USS Oklahoma) and I think that's a real tribute to the men that lost their lives on that ship and a tribute to all the service members that served here and were either injured or even killed,'' said Lt. Gen. Anthony Crutchfield, deputy commander of the U.S. Pacific Command.
Tickets to the games were not available for public purchase. Most of the crowd was made up of service members — either active duty or retired, including a number of Pearl Harbor survivors. They were honored with standing ovations during numerous television timeouts.
''I'm excited, not for me, I'm excited for those soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines both past and present who have served. I'm very proud of them and I'm honored to stand here today in the midst of true legends: those that served in World War II,'' Crutchfield said.
UP NEXT
Oregon: Visits Boise State on Saturday.
Navy: Visits VMI on Saturday.
