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Men ’s' Basketball
Arizona vs. Stanford,
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Sports
Emerald
Women face first challenge without Meharry
Sonja Curtis
will replace
Brianne
Meharry in the
starting lineup
tonight against
the Beavers
By Alex Pond
Sports Reporter
Life without Brianne Meharry in uniform
starts tonight for the Oregon women.
For the second time this season, the
Ducks will be put to the task of replacing
one of their star inside players when they
travel up the road to take on Oregon State
(6-11 overall, 1-7 Pacific-10 Conference) at
7 p.m. in Corvallis.
First, the Ducks (10-6, 6-2) lost sopho
more center Jenny Mowe after four games
to tendinitis in her right knee.
They survived that loss, largely because
of the contribution of Meharry, who was
the Ducks’ leading scorer (14.6 points a
game) and rebounder (6.9 a game) before
tearing her ACL less than a minute into the
Ducks’ 100-61 win over Arizona State last
Saturday.
Now they are down to just two true post
players on their roster, in 6-foot-3 freshman
Angelina Wolvert and 6-2 junior Sonja Cur
tis.
WOMEN'S
BASKETBALL
The loss of Meharrv for
the season has put a
damper on the fact that
Oregon has recently been
playing its best basketball
of the season. Heading
into tonight’s contest, the
Ducks have won four
straight games and live of their past six to
move into a second-place tie in the confer
ence with Arizona.
"It's kind of deflating to have two good
weekends like we've had,” said Oregon
head coach )ody Runge, “and having had
an up-and-down preseason, to have gotten
to a point where we’re playing well in len
ity’s absence and then have another setback
by having your leading scorer and rebound
er go out with a season-ending injury."
Runge said she is not sure how her play
ers will deal with the latest dose of adversi
ty.
"I think they’re just kind of waiting to see
how it goes," she said. "1 think it’s just an
emotional blow that they’re going to have
to get over, and we need to play to get a feel
for how that’s going to look. It's hard to get
that feeling just in practice.”
Curtis, who has started four games and
Turn to WOMEN, Page 12
On tap
SI WHAT:
Women's bas
ketball
M WHO: Oregon
Ducks v. Oregon
State Beavers
■ WHEN: 7 p.m.
m RADIO: KUGN
590 AM
^ He s the heart and soul of their team right now. lie's one oj the premier players in the league. H
Ernie Kent
UO head coach
The long road to success
Compton, Calif, native
Corey Benjamin is one of the
Pac-lO’s top five NBA draft
prospects
By Rob Moseley
Sports Reporter
|hu road from Compton, Calif,,
-A. The stretch of just more than
700 miles includes more than hard as
phalt, fast-food restaurants and gas sta
tions. It is a road that connects differing
lifestyles, politics and ideals. Traveling
that road involves crossing not only
physical borders, but cultural ones as
Oregon State’s basketball star of the
1980s, A.C. Green, hailed from Port
land and didn’t have to travel that road.
The man that brought the Beavers back
into the national spotlight in the late
'80s, Gary Payton, made half the jour
ney, starting in Oakland, Calif.
But the man who is close to bringing
the Beavers to prominence in 1998
made the entire trek. Corey Benjamin, a
6-foot-6 shooting guard born in Comp
ton just less than 20 years ago, is syn
onymous with Oregon State basketball
these days.
“He is the heart and soul of their
team right now,” says Oregon head
coach Ernie Kent. “He’s one of the pre
mier players in the league."
Although Benjamin took a longer
route to Corvallis than his famed prede
cessors, it was not an untrodden path.
Corey’s older brother, Sonny, is a se
nior at Oregon State this season, and it
was Sonny Benjamin who convinced
his younger brother to make the trip
north.
“He went to college before me, so he
basically knew the ropes,” Corey Ben
jamin says. "I would say it was better
for me coming in as a college freshman
with him knowing that."
The younger Benjamin’s journey be
gan at North High School in Riverside,
Calif., where he first played alongside
his brother. But after Sonny Benjamin
left to begin his collegiate career, Corey
Benjamin transferred to national pow
to Corvallis is not one tra
versed often.
well.
Turn to BEAVER, Page 9
EMERALD
Oregon State sophomore sensation Corey Benjamin leads the Beaters into McArthur
Court for the first Civil War battle of the season on Saturday.
Ducks looking
for prep
running back
Oregon coaches hope they
can sign 6-J'oot-1, 205-pound
DeShaun Foster by Feb. 4
With the loss of tailback Sal
adin McCullough to gradua
tion, the Oregon coaches
have turned their recruiting
attention to prep running backs.
McCullough, the Ducks’ single-season
rushing record holder, left the Ducks as one
of the top running backs in school history.
Running back Derien Latimer, who will
be a junior next fall, has proven himself in
limited roles over the past two seasons,
but Oregon coaches are looking hard for a
top prep running back who can contribute
for years.
With signing day less than one week
away on Feb. 4, the player Oregon coaches
hope they
can sign
is De
Shaun
Foster, a
6-foot-l,
205
| >Ollll(i
running
back who
Reuniting
Report
by Ryan Frank
some call one of the top running backs in
tlie nation.
1 lu was Cal-Hi Magazine’s California
player of the year and rushed for 3,395
yards and 54 touchdowns in his senior
season.
He is the Ducks' most sought-after re
cruit, but he is likely to sign with UCLA.
Oregon was one of his final five choices
before he narrowed his decision to UCLA
or Texas.
Oregon has an oral commitment from
the No. 1 junior-college tailback in the na
tion, Ruben Droughns, 6-1, 205, who
signed with Oregon out of high school be
fore becoming academically ineligible.
He is a highly touted running back who
runs a 4.4-second 40, but his grades are
suspect.
Some reports have said McCullough’s
brother, Sultan McCullough, the nation’s
fourth-best back according to ESPN’s re
ports, added Oregon to his list of the final
two after John Robinson was fired from
Southern California.
Saladin McCullough was said to be
pushing his brother toward Orego l, but
Sultan McCullough has orally committed
to the Trojans.
Oregon does have a good shot at signing
Iferman Ho-Ching, a 6-2, 200-pound back
out of Long Beach Poly High School. Ho
Ching rushed for 1,480 yards and 26
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