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SPOKANE, Wash. — Phil Martelli told his team if it had 10 or less turnovers, it would beat Oregon.
He may have been right.
Eighth-seeded Saint Joseph's had nine turnovers and the top-seeded Ducks on the ropes Sunday night before three late turnovers allowed Oregon to pull out a 69-64 win in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, ending the Hawks' season (see Instant Replay).
Oregon (30-6), with a 10-game winning streak and a school record for victories, advances to the Sweet 16 in the West Region at Anaheim, California, and will play fourth-seeded Duke Thursday at about 10 p.m.
“The players will tell you, I told them 10 turnovers and under, we win going away,” Martelli said. “We had 12. Eight in the first half.”
Two in the last couple of possessions.
St. Joe's (28-8) had a 23-5 run going, a 58-51 lead and possession with under five minutes left when Lamarr Kimble fumbled the ball away and banged the floor in frustration after play was stopped.
“That was my fault,” he said. “I slipped and I lost it.”
The Ducks turned the Hawks' 10th turnover into a three-point play by Dillon Brooks that started a 7-0 run to tie the game with 2:38 to play.
Kimble then worked for an inside basket but Tyler Dorsey knocked down a three-pointer for Oregon. DeAndre' Bembry made two foul shots but Brooks swished a three-pointer to make it 64-62 with 1:22 to play.
The Hawks, who struggled getting open looks most of the night, made one too many passes and had a shot clock violation with 49 seconds left.
Elgin Cook made two free throws for the Ducks but Bembry got a quick layup. With 23.5 seconds left, Casey Benson made one of two free throws to make it 67-64, but as Bembry worked for a tying shot, he lost the ball.
In the ensuing scramble and tie-up, Isaiah Miles was called for a foul and Dorsey's two free throws with 9.2 seconds left iced it.
“It was right there,” Bembry said. “Last turnover I had, you never know what could have happened. Isaiah could have hit a three, I could have made a layup. So I blame this loss on me, even though Coach don't want me to say that.”
Kimble would have none of it.
“It's definitely not his fault," he said. "It's a team sport. We came here as a team and we won as a team and we lose as a team. Everybody made mistakes during the game.”
Tale of two halves
Eight turnovers weren't Saint Joseph's only problems in the first half. Miles played six minutes because he had two fouls, Pierfrancesco Oliva had three and played just six minutes and Aaron Brown had three fouls.
“It wasn't a thing of beauty,” Martelli said about the game in general and the first half in particular. “That's my fault. We just had combinations out there that we haven't really worked with all year. So it's a lesson learned.”
Bembry, coming off a splendid first-round game, said Oregon's zone was difficult to solve early.
“They've got big guards in the front that got their hands on a lot of loose balls,” he said. “It's really a good, crazy matchup zone. You have to just find smart plays.”
It was 32-27 at the half.
“I thought going [into the locker room] down five, everybody would be like, 'Oh, it's OK,'” Martelli said. “But they had to know that that was not acceptable play. We were grabbing. We don't grab. We don't foul like that. But we were.
“I'm saying this out of love and respect for my team, we had some little boys play in the first half. We fell down, we banged into each other. So it got to them a little bit.”
Five quick points by Brooks made it 45-35 Oregon with 14:20 to go. That's when the Hawks got going, running off 10 quick points, tying it on a Miles basket from the right baseline.
“Basically we started finding a rhythm,” Bembry said. “More harder cuts. First half we were a little bit stagnant.”
Bembry had 14 of his 16 points in the second half, and Kimble nine of his 11.
Inside the numbers
• Saint Joseph's shot 38.6 percent (22 of 57), making 4 of 15 behind the arc and 16 of 20 free throws.
• Oregon was 39.6 percent (21 of 54), just 6 of 24 on threes but 21 of 25 from the foul line.
• With Bembry grabbing 10 rebounds, the Hawks won that battle, 37-36. They also got 17 points off the 11 Oregon turnovers while the Ducks had 13 off the Hawks' 12.
• Oregon blocked seven shots, the Hawks none.
• Brown and Shavar Newkirk finished with 10 points apiece for St. Joe's. Miles finished with eight, the first time this season he didn't reach double figures.
• Brooks led Oregon with 25 points, Cook had 18 and Dorsey 14. Chris Boucher, who averages 12, had a single field goal early in the game.
Final analysis
Asked what made Oregon so tough, Martelli had a simple answer.
“DNA,” he said. “Like whatever they got at birth — long, size, speed. They didn't get that when they got to Oregon. I'm not being disrespectful, they got that DNA. They got that at birth. That's what it was.”