EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Nate Bittle scored 14 of his 26 points before halftime and Takia Simpkins scored 15 points and Oregon beat used the second half to subdue Omaha 80-57 on Sunday night.

Jackson Shellstead scored 13 points and Sean Stewart grabbed 13 rebounds for Oregon which was coming off a 91-82 road loss to No. 7 Gonzaga on Dec. 21.

The Ducks have won three of four.

Tony Osburn scored 18 points for Omaha.

Oregon (7-6) appeared poised to make it a blow out early when it raced to an 18-5 lead seven minutes into the contest. But Omaha (7-8) responded with a 12-2 run and capitalized on an almost four-minute scoring drought to pull within 20-17.

Oregon stretched its lead countering with a 7-2 run to make it 27-19 on Takai Simpkins' tip-in with 5:57 before halftime. The two were all-but even from there before Wei Lin buried an on-the-run 3-pointer from just inside the mid-court line as time expired to give the Ducks a 39-29 advantage.

The Ducks opened it up shortly after the break with a 17-4 outburst resulting in 59-41 lead with 10:09 left and led by double digits for the remainder.

It was only the second meeting between the two. Oregon won the first game 84-61 on Dec. 8, 2018 in Matthew Knight Arena.

Up Next

Omaha begins Summit Conference action when it travels to play South Dakota State on New Year's Day.

Oregon will resume Big Ten Conference play when it travels to face Maryland on Friday.

Denker scores career-high 33 points to lead Northern Colorado to stunning 86-81 win over Colorado

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Quinn Denker scored a career-high 33 points on 12-for-18 shooting, grabbed eight rebounds and distributed eight assists and Northern Colorado pulled the road upset beating Colorado 86-81 on Sunday.

Ibu Yamazaki scored 19 points and Brock Wisne scored 13 for Northern Colorado.

Reserve true freshman Isaiah Johnson scored 19 of his 25 points in the first half, Barrington Hargress scored 18 points, Bangot Dak 16 and Sebastian Rancik 14 for Colorado.

Yamazaki made a pair of foul shots with 23 seconds left to give Northern Colorado an 84-81 lead. On the Buffs next possession, Rancik missed a 3-point attempt, and after securing the offensive rebound, Johnson also missed a 3 attempt to tie it.

Denker made two foul shots with nine seconds left to seal it. His short turnaround with 42 seconds gave the Bears the lead for good at 82-80.

Northern Colorado built a 17-7 lead when Denker made a jump shot with 12:36 left before halftime. Johnson countered with consecutive layups and added a three-point play following a layup from Hargress to get Colorado within 19-18.

Neither team led by more than four points from there and Northern Colorado led 37-35 at intermission.

With the win, the Bears (10-3) snapped a 13-game losing streak against Colorado (10-3) which leads the all-time series (25-19) dating to Jan. 25, 1918.

The Buffs fell to 0-2 against state rivals. Colorado State beat Colorado 91-86 in Fort Collins on Dec. 6.

Up Next

Northern Colorado begins Big Sky Conference action on New Year's Day.

The Buffs start Big 12 Conference play on Saturday at Arizona State.