Kelly Presnell / arizona daily star

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Final: Oregon 78, UA 69Washington 75, Arizona 66Final: Arizona 65, WSU 55Final: Arizona 84, Washington 69Final: USC 70, Arizona 58

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EUGENE, Ore. — The Arizona Wildcats could still earn a 24th straight NCAA tournament berth, but now they’ll have to go through the Pac-10 Tournament’s undesirable first round to do so.

Arizona was gunned down 78-69 by torrid-shooting Oregon on Saturday at McArthur Court, finishing the season in seventh place at 8-10 in conference play. The Wildcats (18-13 overall) will now play No. 10 Oregon State in a Pac-10 Tournament first-round game on Wednesday in Los Angeles, the first time they have had to play a first-round game.

It was the Wildcats’ lowest Pac-10 finish since 1983-84, when Arizona was also 8-10.

“We did what we really needed to do on the trip, which was get a split,” Arizona interim head coach Kevin O’Neill said. “Obviously, a sweep would have been disastrous. Now, what we need to do is go in and get a win on Wednesday against Oregon State, and I’m not thinking that will be an easy game.”

By winning, Oregon (18-12, 9-9) will skip straight to a quarterfinal game against No. 3 Washington State on Thursday. Oregon finished in a tie for fifth with ASU, but loses on a tiebreaker and will face No. 3 Washington State in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

The Ducks also were able to send their five seniors, including starters Maarty Leunen, Bryce Taylor and Malik Hairston, out on a good note. “The stakes were high for both teams,” said Oregon guard Tajuan Porter, who led the Ducks with 24 points. “I just didn’t want our seniors to lose their last home game.”

Porter made sure they didn’t by nailing 5 of 8 threes, including three of them within an 86-second span early in the second half, when Oregon began to take control of the game.

With 81 percent second-half shooting, the Ducks rebounded from a 38-35 halftime deficit and went ahead by 10 with eight minutes left. They took a lead of 70-60 with just over four minutes left and hung on from there.

Oregon finished the game shooting 58 percent from the field and hitting 10 of 19 threes. The Ducks hit 8 of 9 three-pointers they attempted in the second half.

“It was our job to make them miss and we didn’t,” O’Neill said.

Even though the Ducks hit shots regardless of whether they were wide off screens or whether somebody was in their face, the UA players mostly blamed themselves, too.

“They were hot, but it was our fault,” said guard Jerryd Bayless, who led UA with 19 points. “We missed some defensive assignments, and when you miss defensive assignments against a team like that with great shooters, you’re going to lose.”

Arizona finished the game shooting 45 percent from the field but making just 5 of 18 threes. Bayless was 1 for 6 from behind the line although Budinger was 2 for 5, totaling 16 points.

The Ducks opened up a 10-point lead, 60-50, when Hairston hit a three-pointer with 9:09 left in the game. Budinger picked up his fourth foul just before Hairston’s shot, worsening UA’s foul situation. Jordan Hill was called for a fourth foul with 11 minutes left and sat out the next six, while Bayless also had four fouls.

Bayless picked up his third with 3:32 to go in the first half, and sat until halftime. He tussled with Oregon’s LeKendric Longmire on UA’s three-point line, and fouls were called on both players.

“There were dumb fouls,” O’Neill said. “Again, it’s that small margin of error that really hurts you. We can’t have crazy fouls. Jerryd had that big tieup with whoever. They didn’t care if that guy got a foul, whoever it was. It means a lot more to us.”

Meanwhile, Oregon made 10 of its first 12 shots in the second half, including three three-pointers from Porter, and one three each from Hairston and Taylor.

Leunen later joined the party, hitting a three with 4:23 left to give Oregon the 70-60 lead.

Porter hit three three-pointers within 86 seconds to give the Ducks a 51-46 lead, hitting the second one over Nic Wise’s defense but getting freed off screens for a wide-open look on the third.

Bayless cut it to 51-48, but Oregon’s Taylor returned with a 17-footer and then Porter broke loose for a layup that the foul-plagued Bayless lightly defended. Porter’s layup gave Oregon its biggest lead to that point, 55-48, and Mac Court began literally shaking with crowd excitement.

Oregon rebounded from UA’s three-point halftime lead by taking a 41-40 lead when Longmire scored on a fast-break dunk — but Longmire promptly gave the lead back when he hung on the rim and was whistled for a technical foul.

Bayless shot the technical free throws, making the first of two, and putting the game in a tie at 41. Hill then scored on UA’s next possession to make it 43-41.

Arizona took its halftime lead when Budinger scored five points in the final 2:12.

In the first half, the Wildcats shot 53 percent from the field while Oregon made 46.9 percent from the field but hit only 2 of 10 three-pointers — both from Porter.