Thursday
March 11,1999
0regonW€meralti
OREGON (67)
Min FG FT R A P
Smith 34 6-14 2-2 8 2 17
Scales 34 6-14 2-2 8 4 16
Carrson 31 3-9 0-4 6 1 6
Wright 38 4-8 0-0 4 3 9
Brown 21 2-11 2-2 2 1 7
Harker 4 0-0 1-410 1
Rosemood 6 0-1 0-0 2 1 0
Jones 21 2-4 3-4 5 3 7
Christ. 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Hartenstein9 1-2 2-4 2 0 4
Totals 200 24-63 12-22 40*15 67
Shooting: 38.1 3-point: 7-17 (Smith 3-6, Scales
2-6, Wright 1 -1, Brown 1 -3, Rosamond 0-1) * in
cludes two team rebounds
ORICON DICKS VS. (il-()R(il.\ TIXII yi:i,i,o\\ jacki: I S
Player of the Game
Forward A.D. Smith scored a
team-high 17points, which
included three three-pointers.
Smith also hit two key> free
throws with less than 1 1/2
minutes to play to give the
Ducks a one-point lead.
Quote of the Game
7 tell you what— I know we
battled and fought really hard,
but it was this crowd that
really pulled us through. Ibis is
a great win for Eugene and a
'• great chance for the nation to
see what the Pit is all about. ”
— Ernie Kent, UO head coach
Georgia Tech (64)
Min FG FT RAP
Babuta 23 2-4 0-0 3 2 4
Collier 34 4-13 0-0 13 2 9
Jones 37 11-17 5-8 11 1 27
Akins 35 3-12 2-3 5 3 8
Floyd 35 4-9 0-0 3 1 11
Vines 26 1-2 2-2 0 2 5
LaBarrie 10 0-2 0-0 1 0 0
Totals 200 25-59 9-13 39* 11 64
Shooting: 42.4 3-point: 5-17 (Collier 1-4, Akins
0-4, Floyd 3-7, Vines 1 -1, LaBarrie 0-1)
* includes three team rebounds
Free throws sink Jackets
Oregon won its first postseason
game since 1988 and advanced
to the second round of the NIT
By Rob Moseley
Oregon Daily Emerald
After so many close games in the regular
season, would the Ducks have had it any
other way once they reached the National
Invitation Tournament?
A.D. Smith made two free throws with 1
minute, 20 seconds left and the Ducks sur
vived three Georgia Tech possessions to
beat the Yellow Jackets 67-64 in front of
6,666 fans at McArthur Court on Wednes
day.
Next up
The Ducks will host
Wyoming on Mon
day at McArthur
Court. The time and
television station
will be announced
today. Tickets go
on sale to season
ticket holders today
and to the general
public and students
on Friday. For ticket
information, call
the Duck ticket of
fice at 346-4461.
The win sets up a
second-round NIT
game against
Wyoming at
McArthur Court on
Monday. The game
time and TV coverage
will be determined
today.
The Ducks (17-11)
led for all but four
minutes of the game
until Alvin Jones
tipped in a Tony
Akins miss to give
Georgia Tech a 64-63
lead with less than
two minutes to play.
Jones Finished with
27 points on ll-tor-17
shooting but was held to four points in the
final 13:15.
“Our game plan was to take one of those
big guys out of the game,” Oregon head
coach Ernie Kent said of the 6-foot-ll Jones
and the 7-foot Jason Collier.
Collier, an All-Atlantic Coast Conference
selection after averaging more than 17
points this season, was held to nine points
and 13 rebounds.
Following the Smith free throws that gave
the Ducks the 65-64 lead, Georgia Tech’s
T.J. Vines was called for traveling after slip
ping to the floor. Mike Carson misfired for
Oregon on the other end, and the Yellow
Jackets (15-16) regained possession with 20
seconds left.
Akins drove to the left side of the floor
and released a floater that rolled around the
back of the rim and out, and although Jones
got the chance for a tip, his attempt rolled
back out the other end. Terik Brown
grabbed the rebound for Oregon and was
fouled, setting up two free throws with 13
seconds left.
“That was the most focused I think I’ve
ever been,” said Brown, who nailed both at
tempts, the second coming after a five
minute delay because half the lights in
McArthur Court were turned off by an auto
matic timer.
The Ducks trailed briefly midway
‘hrough the second half before taking a 55
50 lead on an 11-2 run.
The two teams stayed within striking dis
tance of each other, and Smith’s layin gave
Oregon a six-point lead with 4:40 left. Vines
Turn to OREGON, Page 9A
Nick Medley/Kmerald
Ducks wing Freddie Jones draws a first-half foul from Georgia Tech’s Alvin Jones during Oregon's NIT win.
Smith saves
best for last
By Tim Pyle
Oregon Daily Emerald
A.D. Smith could not have asked for a
better start.
Just more than half a minute into
Wednesday night's first-round matchup of
the National Invitation Tournament at
McArthur Court, Smith buried a three
pointer for the first points both of the game
and his postseason collegiate career.
But then Smith’s shooting touch went
sour for the Oregon men’s basketball team.
All five of Smith’s other first-half shots
went astray, and he finished the half with
just those first three points and five re
bounds.
Georgia Tech’s Jason Collier, a rarity as a
forward who stands 7 feet tall, seemed to be
too big for Smith to shoot over. And Collier
accumulated seven points, 10 rebounds and
two blocks in his one-on-one matchup with
Smith in the first half.
Still, the Ducks clung to a 33-28 lead over
the Yellow Jackets on the strength of Alex
Scales’ 12 points.
“Coach [Ernie Kent] wasn’t really happy
with the way I was playing,” said Smith, a
6-foot-8, 233-pound junior.
hi the second half, Smith more than made
amends.
He hit another triple 1 minute, 35 sec
onds into the half to boost Oregon to a 36
32 lead.
But after a Mike Carson layup gave the
Ducks a 38-32 lead, Georgia Tech embarked
on a 16-6 run that earned the Yellow Jack
ets their largest edge of the game at 48-44
witli 12:19 remaining.
After Georgia Tech forward Jon Babul hit
a jump shot to give his team a 50-47 lead,
Smith began his stellar stretch play with a
layup at the 10:24 mark to cut the deficit to
one.
“He shot the ball well from the perimeter
[in the second half],” Kent said, “and then
used the shot fake to get to the hole.”
Turn to SMITH, Page 12A
Oregon senior puts Georgia Tech in the dark
Who would have thought
that on a night when
Mike Carson sprung a
leak under his right eye,
and A.D. Smith had to pick himself
up off the court a half-dozen times,
and the Ducks shot just 38 percent
from the field, and Oregon’s defense
allowed Georgia Tech’s postman to
score 27 points, and the combination
of Flo Hartenstein, Carson and Smith
neutralized one of the premiere cen
ters in college basketball, and Oregon
head coach Ernie Kent spoke after the
game of dancing in New York’s
Times Square wearing green and yel
low jumpsuits, and Georgia Tech
head coach Bobby Cremins told the
media afterward how impressed he
was with Colorado’s effort and crowd
—- not once, but three times he called
Oregon “Colorado” — and McArthur
Court’s paid attendance was 6,666,
and Oregon’s entire student body
rushed center court after the final
buzzer, and Oregon was given the
right to host the second round of the
National Invitation Tournament be
cause of 53 drunken fans — that it
was a simple free throw that won
Oregon the game?
Terik Brown — who had struggled
throughout the first and second
halves shooting just two for 11 from
the field and one for three from three
point range — stepped to the line in
the final minute of the game and sank
what might have been the two biggest
shots of his career.
After grabbing a rebound off a
Georgia Tech miss down at their end
of the court, Brown was fouled in
midair by forward Jon Babul. As the
green-and-yellow-clad fans erupted
Turn to HOOD, Page 8A
Opinion
Joel
Hood