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EUGENE, Ore. -- An embarrassing road loss to Baylor may prove to be a valuable lesson for Oregon.If the fourth-ranked Ducks want to meet their own lofty expectations, theyll have to earn it on the boards.Two days after losing by 17 points to the unranked Bears, Chris Boucher had 25 points and nine rebounds to lead Oregon to its 27th consecutive home victory, 76-54 over Valparaiso on Thursday night.Boucher was coming off a 12-point, two-rebound performance against Baylor.His activity allowed him to him to have the 25 points, Oregon coach Dana Altman said. He had no defensive rebounds the other night and we lost the rebounding battle by 11.Tonight we won it by 13, and that was the difference in the game.Jordan Bell added 15 points and seven rebounds for the Ducks (2-1), who took control early in the second half with an 11-4 run fueled by Bells eight points to open a 52-38 lead. Bell scored 12 points in the second half as Oregon shot 15 of 27 from the field.That was our goal, just to go inside, Bell said. Against Baylor we went 3 for 21 at the 3-point line, so we just wanted to go inside.Alec Peters led the Crusaders (3-1) with 24 points to become the schools second-leading career scorer. Tevonn Walker added 12 points.Valparaiso shot just 23.3 percent in the second half as Peters was its only starter to make more than half of his attempts. The Crusaders finished 4 of 21 from 3-point range.I think its pretty evident that we are not shooting the ball very well, Valparaiso coach Matt Lottich said, and to beat a team like Oregon youre going to have to hit shots from the outside.Backup freshman point guard Payton Pritchard had nine points and five assists for the Ducks, who led by as many as 25 points in the second half.Oregon had a 40-27 rebounding edge and blocked six shots.Altman said his teams size and rebounding ability should be what sets the Ducks apart.If youre not beating people on the boards, youre not taking advantage of your athleticism, he said. Our goal should be a plus-eight or -nine on those boards for the season, and if we do that, itll be really positive for our team.The Ducks played again without preseason All-America Dillon Brooks, who continues to recover from offseason foot surgery. Altman was noncommittal about the junior forwards availability for the Maui Jim Maui Invitational when Oregon opens play Monday against Georgetown.I dont know if hell play in Maui, Altman said, and if he does, it wont be very much.BIG PICTUREValparaiso: Coming off a 30-win season and deep run in the NIT, the Crusaders were held 28 points below their season average while shooting just 32.1 percent from the field against the Ducks.Oregon: The Ducks likely will slip in Mondays poll off their 66-49 loss at Baylor, but they may regain Brooks services while in Hawaii.POLL IMPLICATIONSDespite Thursday nights win, Oregons best-ever No. 4 ranking likely will take a hit after its 66-49 road loss to unranked Baylor on Tuesday.STAT OF THE NIGHTBoucher, who has scored in all 38 games hes played at Oregon, had 18 points by halftime and missed his career high by one.HIGHLIGHT REELThough not known for his ball-handling, the 6-foot-10 Boucher flashed some nifty moves when he picked off a cross-court pass, dodged a Crusader at mid-court, dipped inside another off the dribble and smoothly threw down a one-handed dunk in the first half to cap a 9-0 run.UP NEXTValparaiso plays Alabama on Monday in Las Vegas at the four-team MGM Grand Main Event. 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CINCINNATI -- Any other NFL team would be starting the season with a new head coach.A playoff meltdown against Pittsburgh left Cincinnatis Marvin Lewis 0-7 in the postseason, a mark that would get anybody else fired.Owner Mike Brown doesnt even think of it that way.Asked on Tuesday why hes so patient with a coach who has such a horrible record in the playoffs, Brown turned the question around. He mentioned the five straight playoff appearances, something only three other teams have accomplished in the same span.I like Marvin, the 80-year-old owner said. I think hes a good coach. We work well together. Weve had our form of success. The teams in a good position. And I would reverse the question: Why would you want to fire Marvin Lewis after all hes done? I think hes earned his spot.Lewis has done a lot to help Brown resuscitate his team during their 13-year allegiance. The Bengals were historically bad before Lewis was hired in 2003. Two years later, he got them to the playoffs for the first time in 15 years.Hes gotten the Bengals to the playoffs seven times overall and lost all seven games, the most consecutive playoff losses by a head coach in NFL history. Cincinnati has lost a first-round game each of the past five seasons, another NFL record -- no other team has dropped more than three straight.The loss last season was the most stinging. The Bengals self-destructed in the final minute at home against the Steelers, with personal foul penalties on Vontaze Burfict and Adam Pacman Jones moving Pittsburgh into range for a field goal and an 18-16 victory.Instead of getting fired, Lewis got an extra year added to his contract, which now runs through the 2017 season.Why? Because we trust in him, we believe in him, we think hes a good coach, Brown said before the teams preseason luncheon.Weve had a good run. And yes, at the end it conspired against us, but those games were very close. They were decided by a play or two and maybe the next time if we get there -- its hard to get there -- but iif we get there, maybe the ball will bounce our way finally.dddddddddddd I like to think it will.Lewis acknowledges that hed likely be fired anywhere else. For now, his job is as safe as any in the league. Brown wants to keep him, and Lewis wants to keep trying to win a playoff game.Ive not been interested in moving any place, Lewis said. Its that simple. Its a two-way street.Although Lewis and quarterback Andy Dalton are the faces most closely associated with the franchise, Brown is the one with whom its most closely identified. He took over when his father, Paul, died shortly before the start of the 1991 season. The Bengals were coming off a playoff appearance that included a first-round win over the Houston Oilers.They havent won a playoff game since then, giving them the sixth-longest streak of postseason futility in NFL history. During Cincinnatis lost decade of the 1990s, fans brought anti-Brown banners to games and put anti-Brown bumper stickers on their cars.Brown joked on Tuesday about a Bengals employee that recently saw one of those bumper stickers around town.(He) was telling me he got behind a pretty beat-up truck that had a bumper sticker along the lines that he was for Trump, and then there was a worn-out sticker on the bumper down below that said `Mike Brown Still Stinks, Brown said.So Ive never gotten free and clear of how people see me, but the team has made real progress. The team is seen in the community in a good way, I think.Asked if he thinks hell ever be considered beloved in the community, Brown laughed.What the heck, he said. Im in a business where theres gonna be someone to kick around, as Nixon once said. `You dont have me to kick around anymore -- you remember his speech? Im happy to be kicked around. Im still here. So go at it if you will.---Online: AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: www.twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '