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Brooks has 20 points and No. 7 Oregon beats Utah 79-61

Alabama v Oregon

EUGENE, OR - DECEMBER 11: Dillon Brooks #24 of the Oregon Ducks shoots the ball over Ar’Mond Davis #22 of the Alabama Crimson Tide during the first half of the game at Matthew Knight Arena on December 11, 2016 in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)

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EUGENE, Ore. (AP) Dillon Brooks scored 20 points and No. 7 Oregon defeated shorthanded Utah 79-61 on Thursday night to extend the Ducks’ home winning streak to 41 games.

Jordan Bell added 17 points for the Ducks (23-4, 12-2 Pac-12), who wore new neon green uniforms that glowed under blacklights during player introductions.

Jayce Johnson had 14 points and 12 rebounds for Utah (17-8, 8-6), playing without top scorer Kyle Kuzma because of a sprained ankle.

Kuzma apparently was injured during practice on Wednesday. The 6-foot-9 junior starter is averaging 15.7 points and 10.2 rebounds per game. His rebounding averaging ranked second in the Pac-12 and 17th in the nation. He has 15 double-doubles this season.

Oregon, sitting second in the Pac-12 standings behind Arizona, led by as many as 26 points. Leading the nation with an average of 6.9 blocks a game, Oregon finished with 10 against the Utes.

It was Oregon’s ninth straight win over Utah.

The Ducks jumped out to an 18-8 lead, paced by Tyler Dorsey’s 10 points. It was the third straight game that Oregon had opened up a 10-point lead on an opponent in the first half.

Chris Boucher’s 3-pointer pushed Oregon’s lead to 26-12. Dylan Ennis gave Oregon its biggest lead of the first half with a layup that made it 39-18 but Utah ended the half on a 7-2 run to close the gap to 41-25.

Tyler Rawson hit Utah’s first 3-pointer of the game in the second half to narrow the deficit to 43-30. But Oregon again extended the lead on Brooks’ layup that made it 54-32.

Brooks’ dunk gave the Ducks a 71-49 lead with just over 7 minutes left. He followed it up with a 3-pointer.

The Ducks’ home streak is the longest active winning streak in the nation. Thursday’s game was Oregon’s sixth sellout of the season.

Oregon rebounded from a loss at UCLA with an 81-70 victory over USC last weekend. After the Utes, the Ducks host Colorado at home before wrapping up the season at the league’s Northern California schools.

Utah was coming off wins at home against Washington State and Washington. The Utes went into the game knotted with USC at fifth in conference play.

Earlier this season, the Ducks defeated the Utes 73-67 on Jan. 26 in Salt Lake City.

BIG PICTURE

Utah: The Utes are 1-5 against ranked teams this season. ... Utah’s 25 first-half points were a season low for a half.

Oregon: The Ducks’ record is the second-best in school history, behind the 1926-27 team that went 24-2. ... Oregon has been in the AP Top 25 for a school-record 23 straight weeks. ... With a layup with 13:33 left, Brooks passed Joe Young (1,388 points) for 15th on Oregon’s career scoring list.

UP NEXT

Utah: The Utes travel to face Oregon State on Sunday.

Oregon: The Ducks host Colorado on Saturday. The Buffaloes beat the Ducks 74-65 on Jan. 28 in Boulder.

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More AP college basketball: www.collegebasketball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25.