Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 1999)
Emerald Editor in chief: Laura Cadiz Sports Editor: Tim Pyle Best Bet NFL Football N.Y. Jets vs. New England 6 p.m., ABC Big lead vanishes, but Ducks hang on ■ Oregon needs a last minute interception to secure a 24-19 win at Cal By Tim Pyle Oregon Daily Emerald BERKELEY, Calif. — The smile on Nike CEO and Ore gon alum Phil Knight’s face said it all. The Duck football team (7-3 overall, 5-2 Pacific-10 Confer ence) had escaped Memorial Stadium with its unlikely Rose Bowl hopes — hopes that became more unlikely Oregon: 24 California: 19 with Stanford’s win over Ari zona State later Saturday — still intact. As he congratulated head coach Mike Bellotti’s wife, Colleen, in a tunnel leading to the visitors’ locker room, Knight wore a look universal among Oregon fans, players and coaches following the Ducks’ 24-19 win over Califor nia (4-6,3-4). Knight looked like he had just been tied helplessly to the railroad tracks while a train came tumbling toward him only to be rescued at the last possible moment by Super man or some other hero, just like in the cartoons. Only the train had been the Golden Bears, who rallied from a 24-0 second-quarter deficit to the cusp of victory, and Superman was Brian Johnson, Oregon’s junior cor nerback who intercepted Cal quarterback Wes Dalton’s pass in the Duck end zone with 33 seconds remaining. “Overall, I do believe that we’re a better football team,” Mike Bellotti said. “I thought that even down to the last play of the game, and I’m glad that in my opinion the best team won.” After Bear defensive back LaShaun Ward intercepted Oregon quarterback A.J. Fee ley’s only pass of the game with 3:43 left, Cal drove from the Ducks’ 35-yard line down to the 5, buoyed by a 24-yard completion from Ward—who had lined up as a wide receiv er and taken a reverse from Dalton — to wideout Michael Ainsworth. On first and goal, freshman tailback Joe Igber got one yard up the middle to the Oregon 4. On second down, Dalton threw incomplete for Ainsworth in the left corner of the end zone. On third down, Bears’ head coach Tom Holmoe went back to his bag of tricks. But this time, jt backfired. As Dalton went through his cadence in a shotgun forma tion, most of the Cal offensive line suddenly got up and shift ed wide right. The Duck de fenders appeared confused and several said afterward that they looked to the sideline to see if the Oregon coaches wanted a timeout. No timeout was called, and Dalton took the snap. He was put under immediate pressure by the Ducks and floated a pass down the middle for tight Turn to Football, Page 10 Courtesy Daily Californian Tailback Reuben Droughns finds California’s defense to be as good as advertised while being held to 86 yards rushing Saturday. Defense missing in UO victory Despite defensive shortcomings, the Ducks manage to run to a 98-87 win in their first exhibition game The Hustle Friday Oregon 98, Mount Gambier87 Next Oregon vs. California Aii-Stars’ 7:05 p.m. Wednesday at McArthur Court By Jeff Smith Oregon Daily Emerald McArthur Court was awakened Friday night as the Oregon men’s basketball team opened its exhibition season with a hard fought 98-87 win over the visiting Mount Gambier Pioneers. But one thing was clearly missing. It wasn’t the McArthur Court crazies as an impressive crowd of 8,009 was on hand to get a look at the new crop of Ducks. The Pioneers — coming off a 77-67 win over Portland on Thursday night — were led by Jermaine Brown, who poured in 34 points, including four of six from beyond the three-point arc. And they looked in better basketball shape with six previous games al ready played. “They play hard because they’ve got their legs underneath them,” Kent said. “They just were a little bit more in sync than we were and a little bit tougher in terms of shooting the ball.” Kent did find a positive, however, in play ing a competitive game as opposed to the usu al exhibition blowouts. He noted that it was “probably better than playing someone we could beat by 40, going through the motions.” Offensively, Scales and sophomore Fred erick Jones—who displayed his athleticism while scoring 21 points—created an imme diate buzz in the crowd in the opening sec onds of the game. Flo Hartenstein directed the opening tip to A.D. Smith, who fired to Scales. Jones streaked to the basket and soared high above the rim for a dunk off Scales’ perfect alley oop pass. The two had waited all summer to get back under the bright lights. “We’ve looked forward to this ever since the last game last year,” Jones said. “We were with each other all summer and could n’t wait to just come out and play together again.” The rest of the half was hardly as easy for the Ducks. ' The Pioneers, a travel ing team from Australia, repeatedly cut through the Oregon defense. With eight minutes, 50 seconds to play in the first half, they led 30-26 after an acrobatic tip-in by David Greer. But Oregon, behind 67 percent shooting in the first half, went on a 26-11 run to take a lead it would never relinquish. Friday’s game marked the first chance for the newcomers to experience Oregon bas ketball and jitters were evident. Julius Hicks threw the ball 10 feet from the nearest Duck, directly into the crowd. David Jackson was called for double-dribbling twice, as the ball repeatedly slipped out of his hands. The 6-foot-8 Hicks never established him self down low, finishing with only three Turn to Men’s basketball, Page 8 Jeffrey Stockton Emerald Senior forward A.D. Smith scores two of his 19 points in Friday’s exhibition.
