Oregon to visit Oral Roberts in NIT battle...
By JEFF NIELSON
Emerald Sporls Editor
Oregon Athletic Director John
Caine stepped into the treatment
center in the basement of McAr
thur Court and nodded to sooho
more forward Joe Moreck
"Thought the season was over,
didn't you?" said Caine All
Moreck could do was nod his
head
Generally, the scene wasn't a
happy one Sunday afternoon as
the Ducks received the news they
had been passed over by the
NCAA selection committee for a
post-season tournament spot
Instead. Oregon will travel to
Tulsa, Okla., Wednesday for a
7:30 p.m. game with Oral Roberts
in the opening round of the Na
tional Invitational Tournament
(NIT). Although in the past the NIT
has been an eight-team tourney
held in New York, this year's slate
will consist of 16 teams playing the
opening round on a regional basis
with the eight winners to advance
to New York's Madison Square
Garden for the quarter-finals
March 14-15.
Semi-final games are
scheduled for March 17, with the
championship game set for the af
ternoon of Sunday, March 20
While the Ducks are happy to
be playing somewhere, there was
widespread disappointment that
the NCAA had decided not to pick
Hagihara wins Pac-8,
but Oregon State romps
CORVALLIS — Susumu
Hagihara was the lone titlist tor
Oregon as the Ducks placed a dis
tant second to Oregon State at the
Pacific-8 wrestling champion
ships, Friday and Saturday
Hagihara deteated Oregon
State's Chris Lindsay at 126
pounds to win the title as Oregon
compiled 58% points to edge out
third place Washington's 44
Oregon State got titles from Pat
Plourd (118), Dick Knorr (142),
Dan Hicks (150), Mark Evenhus
(158), Marty Ryan (177) and Larry
Bielenberg (heavyweight) to run
away with the conference trophy
with 105’/2 points
Oregon got third place finishes
from Tim Strobel (167) who
downed Washington State $ 6-1 in
the consolation final and Buck
Davis (177) who pinned Jeff
Ramona of UCLA at 5:51
"We thought we'd give them
(OSU) a better go than we did,"
said Oregon Coach Ron Finley
whose dub lost the title to the
Beavers by one quarter of a point
last year. "I thought we got some
bad breaks Bliss (Scott) got sick
and had to withdraw Dan Hollem
baek tore some ligaments, and we
were hurt by point losses there
Oregon qualified five wrestlers
to the NCAA Championships in
two weeks in Norman, Okla They
are Steve Hart (118), Hagihara,
Bob Bragg (190), Kevin Kramer
(158) and Davis
CMAMWOWSHIP
Finals
118-Pal Flourd, OSU. d Slav® Hart Oa 11-2
126" Susumu Hagihara Oe d Chrta Lindsay
OSU, 115 154-Cortot Rodrigue/ Cal. d Bobby
Sparta*. Wash. S-4 142-Chcta Knorr, OSU. p Len
Jacobean Cal. 4 05 150 DanHrcfcs, OSU dNeal
Oorow Col. 16 3 156- Marta Evenhu* OSU. d
Kevin Kramer. Ore. 9-1 167—Fred OeLeon,
UClA won by default over M*o Brassier Wash
177 Marty Ryan, OSU. d Gary Lynn Stan. 6 4
190—Bob Bragg Ore d Howard Horns. OSU
10-6 HEAVYWEIGHT Larry Bieienbefg OSU . p
Jawed Thomas. UCLA, 4 03
TEAM
Oregon Stale 105V>. Oregon 58 V Washington
44, California 43. UCLA 36 Stanford 17W.
Washington Stale 10
Women hoopers lose two
to close season, 11-6
PORTLAND — Oregon didn t
bring home any titles from the
Northwest College Women's
Sports Association qualifying
tournament, but that doesn't
mean the Ducks oidn t have a
successful effort at the tourna
ment which ran March 3-5 in Port
land.
Coach Elwm Heiny s Ducks fell
to Portland State 62-57 in over
time Friday and then lost to
Oregon College of Education
61-60 in a sunrise special Satur
day morning to conclude their
season.
The result is the Ducks end the
year 11 -6, and without the berth
they had sought in the regional
tournament. Nonetheless, Heiny
was very pleased with the perfor
mance put forth by his charges.
"Despite losing some games,
we still played very well," said the
first year coach. "It could have
gone either way."
The Friday loss to Portland
State was especially tough to
stomach because it was the third
time this season Oregon had
forced the Vikings into overtime
Oregon held the advantage
over Portland State for the major
ity of the game as the Viks were
plagued with foul trouble. Going
down the stretch the Ducks
seemed to have the game locked,
but a controversial foul and some
icy shooting spelled the Ducks'
demise.
Sue Smith, who burned Oregon
with 21 points, drilled two free
throws with six seconds left in
regulation to even the game at
53-53. But there was some ques
tion whether Smith should even
have been at the line
‘ After the game she (Smith)
said that she hadn t even been
touched," recalled Hemy.
Once into overtime, the Ducks
went frigid from the field and
couldn't find the hole. PSU mean
while spread the scoring around
and tamed the Ducks for the third,
and last time this season.
OCE ended Oregon's tourna
ment hopes the next morning as
the Wolves caught the Ducks in
the closing minutes to escape with
the narrow win. Hemy cited
psychological factors as instru
mental in the outcome.
“It was hard to get up for OCE
after losing to Portland State,
which was a real letdown," exp
lained the Oregon coach "And
starting so early (9 a m.) hurt too
The girls aren't used to getting up
that early ."
A non-factor in Oregon's show
ing was the absence of Cathy
Aiken. It might have been ex
pected that the Ducks would miss
the starter, but Heiny didn't think it
mattered.
"Our immediate strength was
no better with or without her,” he
said.
the second-place team in the
Pacific-3 for an at-large berth
Oregon Coach Dick Harter was
especially unhappy
"There has to be a fairer way of
picking the teams than they did."
criticized Harter. "I think it was a
blow to the prestige of the Pac-8.
"Unquestionably, we are better
than some of the NCAA choices.
Their pairings and such are unreal
— they have San Francisco play
ing Nevada-Las Vegas, and
UCLA up against Louisville in the
first round."
The Associated Press said
Oregon and Washington State
both received serious considera
tion for an NCAA spot, according
to Tom Jemstedt, a spokesman
for the NCAA selection commit
tee
"Based on over-all won-loss re
cords and strength of schedules, it
was the committee's decision that
there were other teams more de
serving," said Jernstedt, a former
Oregon athletic official.
The NIT had announced its in
tention to hold first-round games
on neutral courts, wherever pos
sible, but Creighton, Houston,
Virginia Tech, Oral Roberts and
Old Dominion will be playing on
their home courts
That fact didn't please many
Oregon players.
"I don’t want to go to Tulsa, I'd
rather play here if we play them,”
said Greg Ballard. It's a disap
pointment being in t'ie NIT be
cause we were rejected by the
NCAA I think losing o Oregon
State hurt our record, and our
chances.”
"We all wanted to go to the
NCAA's," said Mike Drummond.
"I thought we still had an outside
chance to go after Thursday (the
loss to OSU), but that's politics."
FIRST ROUND
TUESDAY, MARCH 8
At Omaha
i Mi non State. 20-6, vs Creighton. 21-6
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9
At Houston
Indiana State. 25-2, vs Houston 26-7
At Blacksburg, Va.
Georgetcavn, D.C . 19-8, vs. Vtrgna Tech. 18-9
At Tulsa
Oregon. 18-9. vs Oral Roberts. 21-6
At Norfolk, Va.
Vrtlanova, 168. vs Old Domnon. 2S-3
THURSDAY, MARCH 10
At Birmingham, Ala.
Memphis State 20-8. 208. vs Alabama 22-4
At Princeton, N.J.
St Bonaventure. 20-6. vs Rutgers. 18-6
At Springfield, Maas.
Salon Hall. 17-8. vs Massachusetts. 16-9
According to Harter, there was
no particular politics involved in
giving Oral Roberts the home
court advantage.
“They just selected it that way,”
he said “There was no argument
from Dr. Caine. My guess was that
they wanted to keep it in the East
ern time zone because it would
get greater exposure that way.
There was no bidding wars
back and forth or anything like
that.'
The Titans (21 -6) were 5-4 after
nine games, but won 16 of their
last 18 in a successful finish. Led
by 6-6 senior forward Anthony
Roberts, they finished fourth in the
1976 Far West Classic after beating
Oregon State, 77-68. Roberts,
who averages 32.8 points a game,
was also named the Classic’s
Most Valuable Player
Other than Oregon State, Oral
Roberts has beaten another
Pac-8 school, a 71-70 squeaker
over Southern California.
The Titans are making their
fourth appearance in the NIT,
while this will be Oregon's third
straight year in the tournament.
While the Ducks finished third in
1975, they lost to North
Carolina-Charlotte last year,
79-72, after drawing a first-round
bye.
Harter isn’t taking anything from
either the Titans or Roberts.
"They had a difficult schedule,”
he said. “I think they’re a fine
team. We saw them play in the
Classic, and Roberts is one of the
toughest offensive players we’ll
be facing.”
Should the Ducks get by the
opening round, there will be at
least one player glad to make the
trip to New York.
“I don’t care about Tulsa, just
that we re going to play,” said
freshman guard John Murray,
who is from Oceanside, N.Y. “I
wouldn't mind going home.”
Skiier found safe
SISTERS (AP)—A 54-year-old
cross country skier from Eugene
was reported in good condition
Sunday night after he collapsed
on a trail near the Hoodoo ski facil
ity at Santiam Pass.
State police said Matthew Tse
collapsed due to "heat cramps”
while skiing on the Twin Lakes
Trial 1 Vz miles north of Oregon 22.
He was rescued by two ski pat
rol members who carried him to
the highway on a make-shift sled
pulled by a snowmobile, police
said.
Heat cramps are caused by se
vere exertion that results in the
loss of body salts, police said Tse
was taken to his doctor in Eugene
by a skiing companion.
as NCAA snubs Ducks
m m m
KANSAS CITY (AP)—Notre
Dame, Marquette and Nevada
Las Vegas, three of the country's
top independent teams, were
among 14 at-large selections
named Sunday for the NCAA bas
ketball tournament.
The NCAA selection committee
also made room for a Southeast
ern Conference team among its
at-large berths — either Kentucky
or Tennessee, depending on who
wins the SEC championship.
If the teams finish in a tie Mon
day night, as expected, then Ten
nessee will represent the SEC in
the Mideast Regionals while Ken
tucky, which lost to the Vols twice
this season, will gain an at-large
berth
Wake Forest, which finished
runnerup in the Atlantic Coast
Conference and appeared in the
Top 20 all season, was also
selected by the NCAA committee
Purdue, the next eligible team in
the Big 10 behind conference
champion Michigan, was also
awarded an at-large berth, as
were Louisville of the Metro-7
Conference and Arizona of the
Western Athletic Conference
North Carolina-Charlotte and
Detroit, two other powerful inde
pendents, drew tourney bids as
well, along with Providence, which
lost in Saturday's ECAC New Eng
land playoffs to Holy Cross
SATURDAY, MARCH 12
FIRST ROUND
East Regional
At Raleigh. N.C.
VMI, 25-3, vs Duquesne. 15-14 North Carolina.
24-4, vs Rirdue, t9-8
At Philadelphia
Princeton 21-4. vs SEC runner-up-Kentucky or
Tennessee Holstra. 23-6. vs Notre Dame. 20-6
Wes; Region J
At Pocatello, Idaho
UCLA 23-4. vs Louisville, 21-6 PCAA
champion-Long Beach State or San Jose State, vs
Idaho State. 23-4
At Tucson. Artz.
Utah. 21-6. vs St John s. N Y . 21-9 S»i Fran
ceco 29-1, vs Nevada Las Vegas. 25-2
=Sportfolio=
Oregon bowlers nip PCC
Amie Kavanaugh bowled two 500 series to lead the
Oregon varsity women's bowling to a 4,763-4,739 win over
Portland Community College at the EMU Thursday.
The team will now wait for an invitation to a sectional
roll-off to be held in Boise. A win there will qualify it to the
National Bowling Spectacular where eight men and eight
women s teams will compete.
Ruggers tie OSU, 16-16
The Oregon rugby team tied Oregon State 16-16 on the
intramural field Saturday to mark the first time it hasn't lost to
the Beavers in five years.
Midwest Regional
At Omaha
& normal!, 25-4. vs Marauette. 20-7 Southern H
*no»s 23-7. vs Providence. 24-4 Arkansas 26-1,
vs Woke Forest. 22-6
SUNDAY, MARCH 13
MictMSt Regional
At Bloomington, ind
Michigan 24-3, vs Holy Cross. 23-5 MAC cnamp
on vs N Carolina-Chartotte 23-3
At Baton Rouge
IAd<*e Tennessee 206. vs Detroit. 24-3 SEC
Siampwn vs Syracuse 25-3
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