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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 1973)
^ rT _ T T ' _ _ ___ ■ Ole Bruce Landrey BILLY INGRAM GOT THE FOUL HERE Bright spots? Lights, says Harter after sloppy win Oregon’s basketball team couldn’t seem to do anything wrong Saturday night, their passes were crisp, their shots were (hopping and their defense looked good. Then the game started, and the wily reason the Ducks led Cal Poly at the end of it, 73-63, was net because they played better but because the Bronco6 played worse. As a frustrated Dick Harter said afterward, “the only bright spot out there were the lights.” Harter deemed everyone responsible for the poor effort. “Blame all 16 or 17 of us,” he said, “our practices were too short this week ... and that’s my fault.” His Ducks were off key from the beginning Their shooting was fine. It was getting the ball through the hoop that was the problem. Turnovers were so frequent you would think they were in the game plan. And the Duck defense didn’t look, like the same one that held its past eight opponents to a low 59.5 sewing average per game. With eight minutes left in the first half, the dreary game took on a new complexion when a mad scramble for a loose ball got things going. The tussle, which made the karate exhibition at the half look tame, left Gerald Willet with tennis shoe marks on his face and blood on his uniform, left Dick Harter with a few words for the refs, and left the Ducks down 21-14 to a Cal Poly team that was so excited you would think they had just knocked off UCLA. After a time out laden with boos from many of the 8,200 fans who felt that stomping on a players’ head deserved a foul, the Ducks finally got in gear. Like so many other games, it was Ronnie Lee and Doug Little that ignited the surge. TheCowboy’s casts from the corner finally quit banging against the edge of the backboard and went in, and Lee found the range from the outside as the dynamic duo popped in eight straight point to give the ducks their firstlead of the game 22-21, with 5:22 left in the half. At the midway point, the Ducks led 37-34, Little and Lee combining for 20 out of the teams 25 points in the last seven minutes before the break. The two cooled off in the second half and with 10:33 left the Broncos were still hanging on, trailing only 51-48. As the Ducks pulled away to their eventual ten point win, they were still plagued with miscues that made Harter cringe. “Take nothing away from them (Cal Poly),” he said afterward, “but our execution left a lot to be desired.” A whole lot. Passes went astray so often it seemed like both teams had done vitalis com mercials before the game and hadn’t washed their hands. Oregon had eleven turnovers in the second half to give them 19 for the game while Cal Poly, not to be outdone, managed to lose the ball 30 times, 15 in each half. Lee scored 24 and Little 18 (14 in the seven minutes before the half) to lead all scorers and the Ducks did outrebound the Broncos 53-34. But it didn’t make up for their other failures. Next week against Oregon State, the Ducks won’t be able to make that many mistakes and still win. “We’ll get it together cm Monday,” Harter vowed. That’ll be quite a task. After Saturday night the Ducks have an awful lot to get together. Pre rips Viren, 2-mile field The rumors were disturbing. Steve Prefontaine was out of shape, not men tally ready, and hurting with tendonitis. And with the Sunkist Invitational — and Lasse Viren — waiting with a two-mile test Saturday night, Pre was quoted as saying a few days before “I’ll probably finish fourth.” When you watch the man run around campus — usually with a pack of Bill Dellinger’s cross country runners, there’s still the feeling that Pre would have the gold medal fra* the 5,000 in his pocket — if only the pace had been faster. In the Los Angeles Sports Arena two nights ago, Steve showed the 12,106 in attendance just how mentally ready he was, and Pre was keenly con scious of the pace. This time he simply made his own. “I wanted to run like I felt,” he explained on television after burying Viren, Marty Liquori, and Frank Shorter to win in 8:27.4. “I lost at Munich because the pace was too slow.” Pre seized the early advantage over Tracy Smith and gold medalists Shorter and Viren — then simply blasted away. He was running laps in the 62’s and nobody was about to challenge — not in late January. For Oregon’s greatest runner, the race was important psychologically. Statistically, it meant little — although the winning time was just 1.2 seconds off the American indoor record. “When you’ve had a fall like I’ve had,” he said at Los Angeles, “you have your doubts. I started to work out again two months after the Games and I started too hard. I was very injury-prone. Up to three days ago, I had tendonitis in the knee and wasn’t sure if I could come.” Pre is scheduled to run in the Portland Indoor this coming Saturday. Swimming Surprising Ducks claim Utah meet SALT LAKE CITY — Nobody picked Oregon’s brash band of youngsters to win the Championship Development Swimming Meet at Utah. But Don Van Rossen’s Ducks, powered by breasts troker Roy Clark, butterfly specialist Gary Hi die, and a two-three finish in the three-meter diving, buried the field Saturday night. New Mexico, picked to win the team title easily in the flve team competition at the Ute Natatorium, trailed Oregon from the first day—when Tony Ciochetti and Hi die swam to big vic tories—and never got close. The Lobos finished with 378 prints—and Van Rossen’s Ducks, bubbling with enthusiasm, washed over New Mexico by 111, finishing with 489. “The kids just went out and ripped them,” said Van Rossen. “They had great spirit and they did a great job.” Clark, coming on fast after a solid performance in meets with Stanford and Alaska, produced a lifetime best in the 500 yard freestyle Saturday night—5:06.8—to give Oregon fourth place points where none were expected. For the Ducks, it went that way all weekend. The Webfoots owned a 49-point lead over the Lobos going into the last day, and New Mexico’s last win of any significance came in the 100-yard freestyle. In that one, Ciochetti went against Rick Klatt—who has run this event in the 47s and is a sure bet for All-America. Ciochetti kept it close for awhile, but Klatt eventually pulled away to win in 48.18. Oregon’s top freestyler ran a 49.06. Rick Basford and John Ramey followed with more depth points for the Ducks after Basford finished second in the 200 yard backstroke in 2:02.46. Ramey got a fifth and when Clark followed with a big victory in the 200-yard breastroke—and was chased to the wire by teammate Matt McCudden—the Ducks had their title. John Topar got Oregon’s last individual championship of the night when he took the 200-yard butterfly over Hi die in 1:58.82. The team returned to Eugene Sunday morning and won’t be back in action until the Dolphin Championships at Leighton Pori, which begin Feb. 2 OREGON FINISHERS SATURDAY: 500 FREESTYLE—Roy Clark, fourth, 5:05.8; John Topar, sixth, 5:30.24; Matt McCudden, ninth, 5:09.13. 100 FREESTYLE-Tony Ciochetti, second. 49.06, John Heilman, sixth, 51:14, Gary Hidle, 11th 51:11. 200 BACKSTROKE —Rick Basford, second, 2 02.46; Jon Ramey, fifth, 2:04.61. 200 BREASTSTROKE —Roy Clark, first. 2:16.30 Matt Me Cudden. second. 2:19.05. Gary Devereux, fourth, 2:23.06. 200 BUTTERFLY—John Toper, first, 1:58.62. Gary Hidle, second. 2:01.33; Tony Ciochetti, ninth, 2:09.39 THREE METER DIVING—John Dufficy, second. 417.00; Paf Me Cornack. third. 389.20. Peter Allis, seventh, 341.25 400 FREESTYLE RELAY— Oregon fifth (Rick Bastard, John Ramey. Greg Boyce. John Heilman) 3:23 40 Purkey keys Oregon in 2-1 mat weekend Mark Purkey got back into the Oregon wrestling lineup just in time. The sophomore Pacific-8 champion won three matches and was very instrumental in Oregon’s 2-1 weekend series. Thursday against Oregon State, Purkey made his 1973 debut a success wrestling at 177 pounds (his normal wrestling weight is 167 pounds) Purkey tied the team score with Oregon State at 14-14 with two matches to go. Oregon State, ranked second in the country, eventually prevailed, however, 23-14. But Friday and Saturday it was a different story. With Purkey back into the lineup after spending the last nine months hobbling on an injured right knee, Coach Ron Finley produced a stratagem to edge a strong Northern Colorado tp«m Friday night. After losing four straight individual matches, Oregon was trailing 17-14 when Purkey took to the mat at 190 (up two weights from his normal 167). Giving away some 20 pounds, Purkey attacked UNC’s Larry Gabel and won 10-3. Purkey’s win tied the team score at 17-all. Replacing Butch Hogland at heavyweight, who was pinned the night before by OSU’s Jim Hagen, Finley inserted Wes Hines, Oregon’s sophomore regular at 190. His opponent, Jim Kish, (listed at 275) weighed some 85 pounds heavier than Hines. Hines, using his superior quickness and strength to ad vantage, repeatedly took Kish down and led 12-2 when Kish was flattened for the last time with 39 seconds left in the second round. Saturday afternoon, Oregon had to overcome a 1(H) lead by the UCLA Bruins, to gain a 27-16 victory. Purkey and Hines recorded back-to-back pins at 177 and 190 pounds to ice the win Also instrumental in the comeback was Mike Oilar’s pin at 134 pounds, despite wrestling up a weightover his normal 126. For Oilar, it was his third straight win of the weekend remaining unbeaten for the season. His dual match record stands at 8-0-1. Dave Luke also went unbeaten through the weekend mat ches, upping his dual record to 7-(H). He has lost two matches during early season tournaments.
