Oregon daily emerald., March 06, 1973, Page 13, Image 13

Or another^ Kamikaze handfight ?_
Was it Louie Nelson night?
In Mac Court Ronnie Lee won the
battle with All-Coast guard Louie
Nelson 22-18 and the Ducks won
69-65 in overtime. In Seattle last
night Nelson won the dual 35-22
8.8.
Photo by James Link
and the Huskies prevailed 83-75,
completely burying any glimmer
hope the Ducks were harboring
gaining an NIT invitation.
By PAUL BUKER
Of the Emerald
SEATTLE (Special) — You could call it the
Louie Nelson show.
While Oregon was gamely trying to stave off the
inevitable Monday night, the Huskies’ star guard
was doing some intimidating. He dribbled between
his legs in the last 1:10 while they roared in Hec
Edmundson Pavilion.
He taunted Mark Barwig. But his biggest
performance was measured in 35 points as
Washington beat Dick Harter’s Ducks, 83-75.
“I wanted to give them something to remember
me by,” smiled Nelson, a 6-2 senior from Compton,
Calif., with immeasurable talent but minimal class.
‘‘I felt I owed them something. I thought I had
the winning basket down there (when the Ducks
won in overtime, 69-65) but they called me for an
offensive foul.
“I wanted to give them something to remember
me by.”
Who, Louie? The 4200 Husky fans or Harter and
the Ducks?
“Both,” shot back Nelson. “And I think I did.”
It was Nelson’s driving lay-up with 4:10 left in
the game and a baseline jumper at 2:54 that shoved
Washington in front, 72-62, and Marv Harshman’s
team stayed there.
The NIT? Already decided before Oregon even
took the floor. USC goes to New York, but despite
the loss the Ducks held onto third (dace in the
Pacific-8. Lowly Washington State Knocked off
Oregon State, 67-64, at Pullman Monday night.
The only thing left was for Oregon to try and
nail down a shot at second place — and for Har
shman to prove a point.
“When you play these guys,” said Harshman,
“you have to play the way they do. You get punched
and you punch back.”
“That’s not basketball, and it never will be.”
What is THAT WAY?
“They bump and run a lot. They’re physical,”
said Nelson.
The box score gave Washington a one-hack
decision: 25 fouls to 24 for the Ducks.
With 9:41 left, Huskie forward Reggie Ball was
called for throwing an elbow. He didn’t like it and
before it was over referee Bob fferrold had levied a
technical. Ball continued to rant, the Huskie bench
emptied, and assistant coaches Dick Stewart for
Oregon and Bob Gillum of Washington, began
yelling at each other.
Harshman ran off the bench, too.
“I’m gonna’ back my ball club when I think
we’re getting screwed.”
From all appearances, there was hate out there
as Harter glared at the Washington bench. At the
time, the score was 60-48 and a miracle was needed
to bring Oregon back.
“Is that the way to play?” Harter laughed. “Do
we hit people? Do we charge off our bench and go to
the other guys’ bench?”
On a night when Doug Little was hitting the
bombs for 24 points and Ronnie Lee was scoring 22,
there was no miracle. But the Ducks fought back
within four, 60-56, with 7:13 left in the game. That
came after Washington had blitzed to a 60-46 lead.
Huskie freshman Lars Hansen stretched his 6
10 frame for a key tip moments later, then Nelson
popped from the top of the key to make it 64-56.
Oregon couldn’t come back.
Washington played keep-away and twice Ball
was all alone for cripples. On the second, Barwig
was guilty of a foul. Nelson gleefully jumped over,
motioned the bucket was good in Barwig’s face, and
laughed to the crowd. They loved it.
Minutes later, he was dribbling between his legs
as the Huskies ran out the clock.
Still, Oregon went for the ball. Twice the Ducks
went to the floor to try to make steals.
Too rough?
“I don’t like that kind of basketball,” continued
Harshman, “and I’m not going to let anybody in
timidate me in my own gym.”
Harter, quietly smoking a cigarette underneath
Hec Edmund son, wouldn’t comment on Nelson’s
show-boating.
“All I’ll say is he played very well.” He’s got
my vote for the All-Star team.”
The Ducks played a poised, collected first half
but still trailed by five, 37-32. Credit that to Nelson’s
16points, including 8of 8 at the line. Washington hit
11 straight free throws in the first 20 minutes and
matched the bullies of the Pac-8 elbow-for-elbow,
which is how it should be from now on, said Har
shman.
“They’ve been playing tougher than the other
guy. The rest of us in the league haven’t accepted it
yet. We have to play that way or we get beat.”
If you were searching for a positive definition of
the Harter style here Monday night you went home
a little perplexed. If you wanted to see the final
' home installment of the Louie Nelson show, the
night was a scorcher.
Ducks survive Bohler, just barely
By JIM HUNTER
of the Emerald
One level below the handball courts, two
levels below closet-like Bohler Gym Dick
Harter spoke:
“It was a team effort.”
That it was on the part of Oregon-and
on the part of Washington State.
It had to be a two-way agreement for the
Ducks to win like they did Saturday night,
66-65.
Doug Little, Ron Lee and Gerald Willett
did their part, chipping in 23,22 and 15
points. And the Cougars did their all
important bit, turning the ball over 19
times and shooting only 43 times-11
fewer shots than Oregon MISSED.
A team that shoots 20.1 per cent worse
from the field than its opponents can still
win; but it usually has a big advantage at
the free throw line or on the boards. Not
Saturday at Pullman. The Ducks were
outscored at the foul line 15 to 12 and had
only a four rebound edge.
So how come Oregon won?
As Harter noted, after sighing that there
has to be an easier way to win a game,
“We did it when we had to.”
“Had to” was the final four minutes of
the game._ Ahead 62-60 and with
possession, 'the Webfoots went into a
slowdown and played around in backcourt
until 45 seconds remained.
At that point Lee broke clear for what
appeared to be a certain lay-up. It wasn’t,
he missed the basket and WSU’s Mike
Dolvan rebounded, and he was fouled by
Willett on the way down.
The Cougars’ leading scorer hit the first
free throw but missed the second; and now
it was his turn to foul. Willett responded
more favorably, hitting two, making it 64
61 with 39 sec aids.
Washington State countered and then in
an attempt to get the ball, fouled Lee with
14 seconds. Ronnie canned them both and
that was it.
Aided by 15 first-half WSU turnovers the
Ducks held a 33-28 lead at the break. But
the Cougars, buoyed by 3,000 racous fans,
came back, paced by Washington State’s
prize freshman, Sammy Miller.
Miller, who finished with 18 points,
engineered WSU to a five point lead before
getting his fourth foul and cooling his
sneakers on the bench.
Said Harter about the Ducks’ early
second half doldrums, “We were not
getting back to cover the fast break well at
all. Part of that was because of the zone
offense we were in; it didn’t leave us in
good position.
“I guess we came out a little flat, too. We
were ready at 3 or 4 that afternoon, not at
eight o’clock. That was maybe because
of the long week or the close loss last
time.”
For what ever reason, things picked up
when Miller picked up. Washington State’s
offense, running smoothly with Miller in
there, sputtered with his absence. In the
six minutes he sat our the Cougars
managed only one field goal.
After it was over the Ducks had their
seventh Pac-8 win and the 15th of the
season Harter spoke about the unexpected
accomplishments in his usual guarded
terms. “We’re proud of where we are and
what we’ve done, but we’ve got two to go.”
Flying Ducks break record, but on wrong night
Pressure, inexperience and a lack of
depth can always make a large difference
in deciding which team is able to win an
extremely close gymnastics meet.“If we’d
done liie routines we’re capable of doing,”
commented Oregon Coach Bill Ballester,
“we would’ve won the meet.” Instead the
Ducks were defeated and California
Berkeley walked away with a 159.20 to
157.05 victory.
Leading by .4 going into the meet’s last
event, the high bar, Oregon seemed
assured of victory but instead could
produce only a 24.55 team event scare and
one of Oregon’s normally strongest events
blew right out the window. Freshman
Steve Roskam was having a super night
until the high bar, but scored only 8.2;
senior Warren Weiseth went on to score an
8.9; and then senior Greg Maxwell had his
worst performance of the season with a
meet event low 7.45 in one of his best
events.
Freshman Roskam still scored 50.85 in
the all-around competition, to place in the
top three, and other Oregon highlights did
exist in the Cal-Berkeley meet. Among
these were: a first place win by un
defeated freshman Bob Rikli in the floor
exercise with a 9.3; an Oregon sweep on
the side horse by sophomore Joe Percival,
at 9.3, Jim Lester, with 9.05, and freshman
Mike Luzny at 8.85; and a second place by
Roskam on the rings at 9.0.
Other Oregon places in the Cal-Berkeley
meet were taken by senior Greg Maxwell
with a tie/or third place on the long horse
vault at 8.95, Steve Roskam at 8.95 for a
third place tie on the parallel bars, and
senior Warren Weiseth also with a third
place tie at 8.9 on the high bar. What made
the difference between victory and defeat
Ba lies ter said, was ‘Too much pressure,
maybe. The type of team we are, we’ve
got to go out and do nothing wrong,” to
win.
Against Southern California the night
before the Ducks had put it all together for
a school record 159.05 to 151.60 victory.
Scoring a school record 9.3 on the rings
junior Kevin Cornelius was in top form,
unlike his 8.15 against Cal the next night,
and he helped Oregon greatly on its way to
a record obliterating performance.
“Interestingly enough,” said Ba lies ter,
“the 159 was accomplished when, Steve
Ro6kam had a bad night. We’ve been
inconsistent on the pommel horse and the
parallel bars all year... but tonight we hit
them cold.” Highlighting the record
making meet, freshman Bob Rikli won the
floor exercise with a 9.2, freshman Jim
Lister tied teammate Joe Percival at 9.1
for first.on the side horse, senior Greg
Maxwell won the long horse vault at 9.15,
Steve Roskam woo the parallel bars with a
8.95 and senior Warren Weiseth took first
on the high bar at 9.20.
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