De’Vion Harmon poured in a game-high 21 points and Oregon was able to hold off a late surge from Stanford to win its ninth conference game of the season Thursday night, 68-60.

The Ducks (16-7, 9-3 Pac-12) entered the day firmly on the bubble, but against a Stanford team hoping to join the party, they’d have their work cut out for them. Stanford (14-10, 7-7 Pac-12) still has a good deal of work to do in crafting its NCAA Tournament résumé, but beating a strong Oregon team on the road would have been a nice bullet point to add.

Not to be. After a bit of back and forth early, Oregon created a bit of separation before the half (it led 32-24 at the break) and then pushed its lead to as many as 14 points in the opening minutes of the second half.

Stanford fought it back to a three-point game with under 9:30 to play, but Oregon again had a response, keyed by a triple from Harmon. A layup from the junior guard 4:05 to go put the Ducks back up 12.

Stanford had one last push, getting triples from Harrison Ingram (who finished with 10 points), Michael O’Connell (11), and Spencer Jones (eight) and bringing the margin back to five with 50 seconds to go. Again Oregon was able to counter. Jacob Young and Will Richardson sank five free throws over the next 24 seconds of game clock to push the lead back to 10.

On an off-night from Richardson, Harmon carried to load, sparking bits of offense for the Ducks whenever they needed it. Coming off a 25-point performance in the Ducks’ win over Utah last Saturday, Richardson was cold from the field. He shot just 3-for-14 overall and 1-for-8 from 3.

But he still managed to add six assists, four boards, and two steals. N’Faly Dante also added 12 points and seven rebounds.

Stanford struggled mightily from beyond the arc for most of the game (6-for-25) and also turned it over 17 times.

Oregon returns to action against Cal on Saturday at 1 p.m. PT. The Ducks have been one of the hottest teams in the country of late and they’ll look to keep it rolling. Since a Dec. 18 loss to Baylor, Oregon is 10-1.

The Cardinal face Oregon State on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. PT.