No. 11 Oregon loses Brooks in win over California

EUGENE, Ore. -- Losing its best player to injury left No. 11 Oregon more somber than celebratory after it rewrote some school history with its 15th consecutive victory.

"It takes a little wind out of your sails," coach Dana Altman said of the Ducks' reaction when Dillon Brooks didn't join them for the second half.

Jordan Bell scored a career-high 26 points, Casey Benson had 15 on five 3-pointers and Oregon rolled to an 86-63 victory over California on Thursday night.

The Ducks (17-2, 6-0 Pac-12) hadn't won 15 straight games in 104 years, but they lost their preseason All-America to a lower leg injury late in the first half.

Brooks, who had offseason surgery on his left foot, limped off the court as Oregon was building a 44-30 halftime lead. Oregon officials tweeted that Brooks had injured his lower left leg after he did not appear with his teammates for the second half.

"He'll be evaluated the next couple of days and we'll see where we're at," said Altman, who spoke with Brooks but wouldn't confirm if he had re-injured his left foot.

In his absence, Bell took up the scoring slack by shooting 11 of 12 from the field to go with six rebounds and four blocked shots. He was 7 of 7 in the second half and 4 of 5 at the free throw line for 18 points.

"That's just a great line," Altman said, looking at the stat sheet. "A few more rebounds and that would have been a spectacular line."

Bell's only miss was a desperation 3-pointer early in the game to avoid a shot-clock violation.

"When we got it down low to him, he scored every time," Tyler Dorsey said. "He finishes and he's very athletic."

Jabari Bird had 21 points to lead the Golden Bears (13-6, 4-3), who had won three straight and eight of their last 10 meetings with the Ducks.

After two quick fouls on starter Payton Pritchard, Benson came off the bench to hit four straight 3-pointers as Oregon connected on 9 of 15 beyond the arc in the first half.

Dorsey, the Ducks' best long-range shooter, turned playmaker in the first half with five of his six assists.

"I was looking for him," Dorsey said of Benson. "I knew he was going to make it and I was going to get an assist."

Dorsey scored 13 points in the second half to finish with 16.

Oregon shot 29 of 50 (58.0 percent) overall and 11 of 24 (45.8 percent) from 3-point range. The Ducks lost the rebound battle 34-25, but they converted 20 California turnovers into the same number of points.

"The key to the game was points off turnovers," Benson said.

BIG PICTURE

California, at 4-3, needs a split of its Oregon road swing to keep contact with conference's top three of Oregon, Arizona and UCLA.

Oregon, which also has won a school-record 37 games in a row at home, may have to adjust its starting lineup for a fifth time if Brooks can't play. The Ducks are 7-0 since Brooks replaced Chris Boucher as a starter.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Oregon has a chance to re-enter the top 10 for the first time since mid-November with No. 7 West Virginia's home loss to Oklahoma on Wednesday night.

HIGHLIGHT REEL: The nation's leading shot blockers were at it again, picking on California's Grant Mullins inside and out in the opening half. First, Bell jumped out to swat a 3-point try by Mullins, who recovered the ball but then was denied at the rim by Boucher, who had five blocks. Oregon had 10 for the game and has 147 this season.

STAT OF THE NIGHT: Brooks, a junior, moved into Oregon's top 20 in career scoring with 10 points to give him 1,262 in 88 games.

UP NEXT

California goes for its second Pac-12 road win at Oregon State on Saturday.

Oregon finishes a three-game home stand Saturday against Stanford.