77- 72 win UO’s biggest this season
‘It’s fun again’ as Ducks snap USC streak
By BOB WELCH
Of the Emerald
There at midcourt, a striking contrast to the wild Oregon
fans going crazy around him, stood Southern Cal's Steve
Malovic signaling timeout.
For once, time had run out on somebody other than the
Ducks. And Oregon, which in the last two seasons has
lost seven games by two points or less, had snapped the
Trojans' 10-game win streak, 77-72, a streak that went
back to the days of Steve Belko, Stan Love and home
games with empty seats.
"It's fun again," said guard Mike Drummond, who, like
everyone, was wild after the Ducks' first big win of the
season. “When you're losing all the time, it’s tough to
play. But we re going to beat some people now.
sports
Somehow, with Oregon leading 69-68 with 4:10 re
maining, you had the feeling that history would repeat; the
Ducks would wind the clock down to 13 seconds, where
upon Stu Jackson would look at a Trojan the wrong way
and Lou Sonano would call a flagrant foul. The guy would
sink both shots, Lee s 60-footer at the buzzer would roll
around the hoop until midnight but slip out and Oregon
would be right back where it started from.
Greg Ballard, Lee and freshman Danny Mack had other
ideas, however. Ballard rammed in a rebound basket
after a gutty triple-effort; Mack cooly hit a pair of free
throws; after SC s Casey Jones canned a 21 -foot jumper,
Lee drove the left side of the lane and outmanuevered 6-8
Bob Trowbridge for a lay-in and Mack hit a lay-in to make it
smiles.
From then on, it was SC s frustration vs Oregon’s
smiles.
Our confidence is back," said Ballard. And we re
back in the race.
In a game that saw the Trojans lead only once, Oregon:
•OilreOoorKJed USC 35-22, obviously ttie most impressive of tbe Ducks statistics
•H»t a sizzling 850 from the free throw line and a creditable 517 from the held
•Kept their poise m the final minutes of the game with an effective stall
The difference in the two teams,” said USC Coach
Bob Boyd, "Was that the Ducks got good board play.
They had an awful lot of second and third efforts."
‘ We knew we had to command the boards to win, said
Ballard, who had a game-leading 12 rebounds. "It was
that simple."
While the Ducks had their cold penods, they made the
points when the points counted most. "We played perfect
basketball the final four minutes of this game and the
UCLA game, said Oregon Coach Harter. "This time they
went in."
In that time span Mack hit two pressure-packed free
throws, scored a lay-in, pulled down two key rebounds
and twice forced Safford to take off-balanced shots.
"He played an excellent game," said Harter. “I don't
think you can play much better than he did in those last
four or five minutes."
1 1 ■ 1 .
Mike Drummond stalled SC's dangerous Marv Stafford for a while
Photo by John Johns
A lot of freshmen might have folded under the pressure
he was facing toward the end of the game. Not Mack. “I
tried not to think about my nerves,” he said. "Otherwise, I
would have started making mistakes.”
Mack, of course, wasn't the Ducks' only standout. Lee
had 17 points, three assists and four steals; Jackson had
16 points, six rebounds and a fabulous check that resulted
in a questionable foul; Ballard had 22 points and was
nothing less than awesome on the board.
Then there was Drummond. SC's Safford had 12 of his
game-high 30 points when Harter sent in the 5-8 spark
plug with 7:52 left in the half and the score tied.
Safford didn't get a field goal the rest of the half and
meanwhile, the Ducks were building their biggest
lead—nine points.
‘ Coaches Steward (Dick) and Harter told me to get in
there and stop Safford, even if it meant biting his head
off," said Drummond. I felt confident. It was a fun chal
lenge.’’
Back when the papers reported we were having inter
nal conflicts, we asked to be judged by our next three
games. I'd say most people would judge us as having
played pretty good."
1
V
Shelton shines in upset
Beavers thump Bruins as
Northern teams dominate
Oregon State battered third-ranked
UCLA 75-58 Saturday and the four
Oregon-Washington teams are suddenly
Pacific-8
Standings
W L
Oregon Stale 2 0
Washington 2 0
Washington
State.2 0
Oregon .1 1
UCLA 1 1
California .0 2
Stanford 0 2
Southern
California.0 2
Pet. G8 Overall
1 000 — 9-4
1 000 — 13-0
1 000 — 9-2
.500 1 8-7
500 1 11-2
000 2 6-5
000 2 4-8
000 2 11-3
dominating what could be the wildest Pac-8
race in years.
The Beavers' win, in which they looked
like Top-Ten material and the Bruins looked
like something from the East Gym, highligh
ted a surprising weekend—and puts our
neighbors to the north in a three-way tie for
first with Washington and—holy
smoke!—Washington State.
Northern teams won seven of eight Pac-8
contests this weekend.
The fifth-ranked Huskies breezed by
California Friday night and tore away from
Stanford in the second half Saturday to post
an 87-81 victory. It might have been a costly
victory for Washington, however, as guard
Chester Dorsey was carried from the floor
with an apparent knee injury.
Washington State, meanwhile, surprised
everyone by topping Stanford Friday night
and Cal 74-69 Saturday night.
UCLA, 1-1, is the only California team
with a win after the weekend, a 69-68 edg
ing pf the Ducks Thursday night.
Jan. 12
Men's gymnasDcs. Northern Illinois and Indiana at
Chicago
Jan.13
Women s basketball, Oregon State at Corvallis,
8 30 p m.
Jan.14
Men s gymnastics, Louisiana State. McArthur
Court
Jan. 15
Men's basketball. Washington, at Seattle. 8 p m.
Wrestling. Stanford, at McArthur Court, 7.30 p m
Women's basketball. Lane Community College
(JV). at LCC, 6 p m.
Jan. 16
Wrestling, California at McArthur Court, 7 30 p m
Men s swimming, Pacific Lutheran, at Leighton
Pool
Women s basketball. Southern Oregon State Col
lege. Gerlinger Annex, 8 p m
Women s swimming. Portland State and Oregon
State, at Portland. 7 p.m.
Jan. 17
Men's basketball. Washington State, at Pullman, 3
p m. (live television)
Men's gymnastics. Brigham Young, at McArthur
Court
Men s wrestling. Washington, at Seattle
Men's and women s swimming, Washngton. at
Leighton Pool
Women s gymnastics, Portland State. Oregon
State. Unn-Benton CC. at Gerlinger Annex, 1 p.m.