A.D. Smith quietly delivers Ducks a Civil War win
■ A.D. Smith reaches
double digits for the 12th
time and leads the Ducks
to an easy Civil War win
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
CORVALLIS — A.D. Smith
knows all about Oregon State bas
ketball.
Saturday’s night’s Civil War
clash in which the Ducks domi
nated the Beavers, 67-49, in front
of a sold out crowd of 10,400 at
Gill Coliseum, was the fifth war in
Corvallis that Smith’s been a part
of — four as a player and one dur
ing his 1997 redshirt year.
But his history of Oregon State
basketball goes much deeper than
that.
Smith, who went to Eugene’s
Churchill
High School,
grew up as a
fan of — be
lieve it or not
— the orange
and-black
Beavers.
“I was a
big-time
Beaver fan
growing up,”
Smith said.
“I’ve been a Beaver fan a lot
longer than I’ve been a Duck, and
I’m always excited about playing
here.”
SMITH
828900
“37 years of Quality Service’
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342-2912 • 2025 Franklin Blvd.
Eugene, Oregon, 97402
Oh, but don’t get him wrong,
there’s nothing he enjoyed more
than emerging from Gill Coliseum
as a winner.
“Road wins aren’t easy to come
by in this conference,” Smith
said. “And there is no more diffi
cult place to play than Gill. You
look at their record here in the last
year or two, and you can see why
we’re excited about this win.”
A key reason the Ducks were vic
torious was the gritty play of Smith,
who scored in double figures as he
has in every game this season, fin
ishing with 22 points on eight-of
13 shooting. He also grabbed his ,
500th career rebound and is 14
points away from his 1,000th point,
a feat he is likely to achieve on
Thursday against California.
“We can talk about A.D. every
week,” Oregon head coach Ernie
Kent said. “He’s such an integral
part of this basketball team and
has done a great job at pushing the
credit in other places.”
Smith’s points against the
Beavers often came at the most
opportune time, yet none of his
points came on highlight-reel
type plays. They were scored in
typical A.D. Smith fashion. Noth
ing fancy, nothing special, but
plenty effective.
When Smith receives the ball
in the low post, he uses moves
that must make any eighth-grade
basketball coach proud. He com
monly uses a picture-perfect
pump fake that draws his defend
er up in the air and then glides
right by him for the layin.
Such technique helped Smith
score 22 points against Gonzaga
and 29 against Hawaii, and he
noted that the Beavers had obvi
ously done their homework.
“I got some junk stuff really,”
Smith said. “I think they scouted
me out a little bit better because
every time I touched the ball there
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Scon Barnett Emerald
A.& Smith, who once coveted orange and black, is happy to be a Duck.
was a double team coming. ”
Oregon State head coach Eddie
Payne did give an advance warning
to liis troops about Smith, but even
with a double team on him, Smith
was effective by using his classic
pump fake to score or to pass to an
open teammate for a jumper.
“A.D. is just a very productive
player for his team because
whether he’s scoring or not, he’s a
smart guy and he executes,”
Payne said. “He reads defenses
well, and he s just the kind ot guy
that gets his team going. He’s
probably their most valuable
player in the sense of all of the
things he does.”
At 7:01 p.m., six minutes before
tipoff, Gill Coliseum’s scoreboard
proudly exclaimed, “It’s a great
day to be a Beaver!”
A mere two hours later, Smith
stood in a hallway outside of the
winning locker room and boasted
a smile that proved that he was,
Basketball
continued from page 7A
Instead, the loudest a sellout
crowd of 10,400 at Gill Coliseum
would get was during a halftime
performance by the Red Panda
Acrobats.
“We got a little shook, I think,”
Beavers head coach Eddie Payne
said of Oregon’s fast start.
The Ducks were simply domi
nant at a venue in which Oregon
State was 7-2 — including wins
over Stanford, Arizona and UCLA
— in Pac-10 play last season.
After being down 37-16 at the
half, the Beavers could get no
closer than within 16, at 50-34
with about 10 minutes remaining,
in the second half.
The Ducks, who entered the
game with a 50.5 percent field
goal percentage after ending last
season at 44 percent, shot 50 per
cent from the field. They made
eight threes compared to Oregon
State’s two. And they out re
bounded the Beavers 37-30.
“Last year, we played horrible
here,” said Wright, who finished
with eight points, three rebounds
and two assists in 32 minutes.
“This time, we took it to ’em.”
Smith took it to Oregon State
the most, using his usual arsenal
of textbook pump fakes, footwork
and lay ups to score a game-high
22 points.
“I don’t know how he does it,”
said a chuckling Wright. “He
looks slow out there to me, but he
comes up big every time.”
Jones recorded 11 points, a
game-high six assists and five re
bounds. His early barrage of
threes was universally regarded
as the tone-setter afterward.
“I felt real good before the
game,” said Jones, who was fur
ther motivated when an over-zeal
ous Beaver fan confronted him. “I
came out and made 50 threes
[during pregame warmups], so
my stroke was feeling real good.”
Senior forward Alex Scales was
the third Oregon player in double
figures, scoring 14 points with
five rebounds and two assists.
Defensively, the Ducks put the
shackles on the Beavers, especial
ly in the first half. After being
held to just 16 first-half points it
self in the loss at Oregon State a
season ago, Oregon turned the ta
bles in holding the Beavers to just
16 points and 27 percent shooting
during Saturday’s evening first 20
minutes.
For the game, Oregon State fin
ished 18 of 52 from the field, a
dismal 35 percent.
“It takes five guys to defend like
that,” Kent said. “I just thought
we were outstanding defensive
ly.”
The Beavers’ all-Pac-10 point
guard, junior Deaundra Tanner,
was hardly a factor, scoring just 10
points with three assists and three
rebounds on three-of-12 shooting.
Tanner was averaging 16 points
and shooting better than 50 per
cent entering the game.
Oregon State freshman forward
Brian Jackson was as good as ad
vertised, scoring 17 points and
grabbing 10 rebounds.
But the Ducks, seeking their
first NCAA Tournament berth
since 1994-95, were perhaps bet
ter than ever. And in a different
class than the Beavers.