sports
Oregon colors the Cardinal red, 68-61
By Brent De La Paz
Of the Emerald
Oregon center Blair Rasmussen
described the Stanford University men’s
basketball team as a bunch that “don’t
mind smashing their faces on the floor.”
For the most part Saturday afternoon
in McArthur Court, it was the Ducks,
who administered most of punishment,
as they tallied up a 68-61 victory over the
Cardinal to keep their post-season
playoff hopes alive.
The win moved Oregon into sixth
place in the Pacific-10 Conference, 8-8
and pushed the Ducks’ overall past the
.500 mark to 15-14.
More importantly, Oregon kept in the
running for a possible bid to the National
Invitation Tournament with the win,
which moved the Ducks into sixth place
in the league.
Stanford, who dropped to 3-13 in the
Pac-10 and 11-15 overall, is a physical
team that plays a hard-nosed game
resembling the type found on the
playgrounds of New York City. The Car
dinal wear teams down with an ag
gressive full-court trap.
In the first half, the game appeared to
be a blowout for Oregon. The Ducks
jumped out on Stanford quickly and rac
ed to a 14-4 lead by hitting six of their
first eight shots.
Rasmussen led the first-half rout with
12 points as the Ducks built a 30-18
halftime lead. Oregon was hitting a tor
rid 65 percent of its shots (13-20), while
Stanford was having problems with the
Ducks' 2-2-1 zone. The Cardinal could
only muster a 36 percent ratio on seven
of 19 from the field.
Oregon’s lead ballooned to 17 points
when the Ducks outscored Stanford 7-2
with 15:39 left in the contest. The game
appeared to be Oregon’s.
But as Oregon coach Don Monson has
said all season long, it’s tough to keep
big leads in the Pac-10 because of the
league’s parity. Monson’s words rang
true as the Cardinal slowly creeped back
in the game.
“Watching the last part of the game, I
don’t like to coach it,” Monson said.
“The clock never seems to move.”
The clock did move, but not before
Stanford had cut Oregon’s 17-point lead
to a meager three within the next 13
minutes. After the timeout, the Cardinal
posted a 12-2 run that sliced Oregon’s
lead to seven, 39-32 with 13:04
remaining.
Oregon cooled down from its blister
ing shooting in the second half, while
the Cardinal began finding its range with
some aggressive offensive play behind
Earl Koberlein (15 points) and John
Williams (10 points).
The once insurmountable Oregon lead
of 17 was cut to a mere five points, 41-36
when Williams hit an 18-footer with
11:15 left. The Ducks woke up from the
nightmarish four-minute span to find
themselves battling to stay ahead.
“It was a different kind of game,"
Monson said of the last ten minutes.
That game included the Oregon lead
jumping between five and 10 points in
the next eight minutes. However, Stan
ford finally closed within three, 58-55 on
Andy Fischer’s driving basket at the 2:57
mark. Oregon was also without guard
Rick Osborn, who fouled out with 5:32
remaining.
Senior reserve Mike Matheson replac
ed Osborn and was put in the pressure
spot of inbounding the ball. Matheson
got the ball out, despite the pressence of
6-11 Cardinal Greg Butler.
With 2:14 remaining, the Cardinal
whittled the lead to three on a Koberlein
4-foot hook shot, 60-57, and Oregon call
ed time out. Monson knew the Cardinal
would foul, making the Ducks win or
lose the game at the free-throw line.
Oregon hit six of six shots in the last
two minutes. Rasmussen made two. then
guard Chris Harper nailed another two to
give Oregon a 66-61 lead with 28
seconds left. Guard Anthony Taylor clin
ched the victory by sinking two shots
with 20 seconds left.
Oregon hit 22 of 26 from the free
throw line in the second half. Taylor was
particulary deadly at the foul line as the
6-4 freshman hit 14 of 16 for 22 points
and a game-high eight assists.
"I feel in the groove.” Taylor said. “I
just wish it had come a little earlier.”
Rasmussen led all scorers with 23
points, 12 rebounds and an impressive
five blocked shots.
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Photo by Rat Martin
Oregon's Mike Matheson (12) attempts a shot over the outstret
ched arms of Stanford University’s Greg Butler (44).
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