Trailing visiting Rock Falls in a tightly contested Big Northern Conference matchup at home, Oregon couldn’t seem to get over the hump.

The Hawks’ energy turned the deficit into a lead and helped turn the tide in a 51-42 win at the Blackhawk Center.

Cooper Johnson led Oregon (14-3, 2-0 BNC) with 15 points as the Hawks outscored the Rockets 28-17 in the second half and 16-8 in the fourth quarter.

The Rockets (6-11, 1-2) made the first half a defensive struggle as they led 13-9 after the first quarter and 25-23 at halftime.

Then Oregon picked up the intensity. The Hawks took advantage of two steals and transition buckets to take the lead as they outscored RF 22-10 over the final 10 minutes.

“I think we were a little complacent at the start of the game. We were letting them dictate the game,” Oregon coach Jarrett Reynolds said. “Then we started playing our style of basketball in the second half.”

Benny Olalde (nine points) hit a 3-pointer to put Oregon up 40-34 with 6:46 left in the game. Oregon led by 14 in the fourth quarter before Max Burns (15 points) scored seven points in the final frame.

Reynolds said Oregon’s intensity helped force the points off turnovers as the Rockets had 15 giveaways.

“That’s our style of play. We want to cause a little chaos and then kick it up,” he said. “If you’re making baskets, you’re going to have more energy on defense.”

Johnson said the team never got down despite trailing in the first half.

“We knew we had to come out faster and stronger,” he said. “That’s what we did in the third quarter and really turned it up there.”

The back-to-back buckets off turnovers was a turning point for Oregon.

“Once we got those two steals back-to-back, I think our energy flipped right away and just created the momentum for the rest of the game,” Johnson said.

Cole Mulnix added 10 points for the Rockets, but took a hard fall in the fourth quarter and did not return.

RF coach Zach Sandrock said Oregon is a “heck of a team” after the road loss.

“They stayed the course, they knocked down some big shots,” he said. “I thought we rushed a little bit on the offensive end, throwing the ball away and letting them get into their game.

“But I thought early on, especially in the first half, we slowed the ball down, tried to get them out of their game, and I thought we were pretty successful with that.”

That was until Oregon turned defense into offense and pulled away. The Rockets’ offense then went cold in the fourth quarter until the closing minutes.

Olalde’s steal and bucket helped feed the swing.

“Benny’s one of our best leaders,” Reynolds said. “If he’s got some energy, it translates to everybody.”

Sandrock said this season has been interesting so far. The Rockets have a number of new faces after last year’s run to the Elite Eight.

“We’ve had sickness, we’ve had injuries, we’ve had some time where we haven’t been able to get very much work in,” he said. “We’re just now really getting into the heart where we can actually make some adjustments and put some extra stuff in and fine-tune some of those small details.”

For Oregon, the Hawks are off to a good start, but they expect a battle every night in the BNC.

“Every game in conference is going to be close this year, I feel like,” Johnson said. “Everyone is here to compete and try to go for a conference title.”

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Oregon's Cooper Johnson (2) shoots a lay up as Rock Falls' Max Burns (0) looks to rebound on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026 at the Blackhawk Center in Oregon. (Earleen Hinton)