Ducks shake Hornets nest...
Photo by Patrick SuMvan
With two minutes left in the game Oregon’s starters got a rest and helped the crowd raise a din in support of
Barry and Marvin Walker's slick ball handling.
... and walk away laughing
By KEN SANDS
Of the Emerald
It wasn’t pretty or exciting, but Wednesday’s
basketball game with Sacramento State was a win.
An 89-44 win, and it was a laugher.
After the game, coach Jim Haney may not have
been laughing, but he was happy to win. “Needless
to say I’m happy we won, and I’m happy to win under
any circumstances,” says Haney.
Circumstances were a little overwhelming for
the Hornets, says Sacramento State coach Elmo
Slider. “We were just outmanned. We played pretty
well in the first 10 or 12 minutes, but then they started
to break through our defense.”
The Hornets were also missing their leading
scorer, and their 6-6 center. "They stayed home
because they violated the curfew and were sus
pended for a week,” Slider explains.
Adding to their problems, the Sacramento State
team was delayed in Portland by four hours, and
arrived in Eugene just two hours before game time.
“It was really tough for Sacramento State, but I’d
hope that the game wouldn’t have been any differ
ent," Haney says.
The game was never really a contest after the
Ducks scored eight straight points to take a 24-12
lead with 7:35 left in the first half. Admittedly, the
Ducks had trouble maintaining intensity with such a
lead.
“When you win by as many points as we did, it’s
hard to go out there and play intensively, but I told
them at halftime that there would be times this sea
son where they would haw to go out and protect a 12
or 15 point lead,” Haney says.
But what they lacked in intensity, they made up
for with effectiveness. Shooting 56 percent for the
game, and outrebounding the Hornets 46-23, the
Ducks kept widening their lead the entire game.
"We got better as the game wore on,” says
Haney, “because John Murray and Rob Closs shot
the ball so well outside that it forced them to come out
on us.
“When the Hornet defense was drawn out, the
middle was opened for passes. “In the second half
we found the man open under the basket for the easy
lay-in."
Lay-ins were common, and Jerome Williams
woke up the crowd with a fast-break basket late in the
game. The Marvin Walker/Barry Walker backcourt
put on a passing and shooting exhibition that drew
the night’s loudest cheers.
A behind-the-back-without-looking toss from
Marvin resulted in an easy basket for Barry, and a
standing ovation.
'It made me feel pretty good to be in the game at
the same time as Marvin—I was glad he got to play,
and I wanted to do my best at the same time,” Barry
says.
“I had been looking forward to playing in my first
game," says Marvin. Of the pass to his brother, he
says, “I knew he would be by himself — that was
what I call a no-look pass.”
But because of the Hornets’ zone defense, says
Haney, the Ducks didn’t get very many of these op
portunities. “I think the zone forced us to be passive
on our offense — we didn’t look to go on the break
very much.”
The biggest statistical improvement from the
first game was the number of turnovers. The Ducks
gave up the ball only 10 times compared to 28
against San Diego State.
“That’s a deceiving figure, because in a running
situation you throw the ball away more often, and the
defense has more chances of intercepting passes,”
Haney says.
After solving the turnover problem, Haney’s big
gest worry was the poor execution of the offense. “In
stretches we played well, and in other stretches we
were fortunate to make the plays that we wouldn't
have made against a taller team,” he says.
What did please Haney was the defensive play
of the Ducks. “The defense was a positive factor in
that end of the court, and I thought Phil’s (Bamer)
performance was more active and stronger,” he
says.
“We piay the passing lanes, and overplay,”
Barrier says, “and I have pretty quick hands, so I take
chances and try to intercept passes.”
Bamer believes the Ducks can be even better, if
they work hard “We had the killer instinct, but I think
that we can play better,” he says.
Guard John Murray played a big part in laying
the Hornets to rest, with 10 points (five-for-six) and
five assists. “It’s a good feeling," he says of the win.
“That’s a hell of a percentage to shoot.”
Mike Clark agrees. “We were sticking the ball
and there’s no way you can stop it,” he says.
Haney hopes that his new offense is unstoppa
ble, but that isn’t preventing him from celebrating this
victory with more practice. “I guess this win isn’t
anything more than the second win of the season —
we still have a lot of work to do,” he says.
The work will have to be productive, because the
Ducks play the powerful Athletes In Action Saturday,
a team the Ducks lost to 81-56 last season.
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Women gymnasts ready,
but foes still preparing
The University of Denver and Oregon State squads may not con
sider it a regular season meet, but the Oregon women's gymnastic
coach Henrietta Heiny says tonight’s triangular match in Gerlinger
Annex B-54 at 6:30 is the real thing.
“Those teams consider this is a pre-season meet, because they
don’t feel they’re ready for competition yet,” explains Heiny. “I person
ally will go ahead and count it, because once you have a meet, youi
lave a meet. I am going to make sure all of their competitors are eligible,,
but I don’t know if they’ll count it or not.”
So it goes as the Ducks open their season against two capable if
not prepared opponents. Last year the Beavers were involved in a
controversial finish to the regional meet, which resulted in the proba
tion of one of the judges. Washington won the meet, besting Oregon
State by .05 of a point, but no one really knows who won the title.
Denver, on the other hand, was a clear-cut fourth-place finisher in
last year’s small college national championship meet.
Heiny is interested in seeing how her promising new recruits will
fare in their first collegiate competition. Sara Gustafson, from Parkrose
High School in Portland, was the state all-around champ last year, and
her new teammate Dawn Haberland, from Portland’s Sunset High
School, was the state runnerup.
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