Jermaine Couisnard scored 17 points as Oregon kept its hopes for a first-round bye in the Pac-12 tournament alive with an 84-51 win over California on Thursday night in Eugene, Ore.

N’Faly Dante, Nate Bittle, Kel’el Ware and Rivaldo Soares scored 10 points each for Oregon (17-13, 11-8), which led by as many as 35 and won its second straight following a three-game skid.

Cal (3-27, 2-17) lost its 14th straight game while shooting 35.2 percent from the field and 2 of 13 (15.4 percent) from 3-point range. Sam Alajiki scored 11 points, while Grant Newell and Lars Thiemann had nine apiece.

The win moved the Ducks into a virtual tie for fourth place in the Pac-12 with Arizona State, which lost 79-61 to UCLA on Thursday. Oregon will secure the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament in Las Vegas with a win against Stanford on Saturday and an Arizona State loss to USC.

The Ducks struggled early against Cal and led by just four midway through the first half before taking control. Cousinard’s 3-pointer capped a 16-6 run and put Oregon ahead by 14 with 2:42 left in the half.

Oregon took a 42-26 lead into the break after shooting 59.3 percent from the field and 6 of 13 (46.2 percent) from long distance. Cousinard had 13 points to lead all scorers.

The Ducks carried the momentum into the second half and stretched their lead to 62-36 on Will Richardson’s layup with 13 minutes remaining. Richardson finished with nine points and set a school record by playing in his 145th career game.

Dante had a game-high eight rebounds for Oregon, which shot 54.8 percent from the field and 8 of 23 (34.8 percent) from beyond the arc.

The Bears were outrebounded 45-21 and must beat Oregon State on Saturday to avoid finishing with their lowest victory total in more than a century.

Oregon has won 11 of the last 12 meetings against Cal, including an 87-59 victory on Jan. 18 in Berkeley.

–Field Level Media