Oregon basketball falls to No. 4 Michigan 81-71 despite strong effort

EUGENE — A severely short-handed Oregon pushed No. 4 Michigan to a far more competitive game than expected, but eventually could no longer hang with the national power. Sean Stewart scored a career-high 22 points and had eight rebounds to lead four players in double-figures for the Ducks in a 81-71 loss to the Wolverines in front of 8,750 at Matthew Knight Arena Saturday afternoon. “I can’t fault the effort,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “I thought the guys played hard, especially the first half. I thought we ran out of a little gas. We didn’t have enough firepower that second half to get it done.” Elliot Cadeau had 17 points and five assists and Nimari Burnett scored 15 for Michigan...