The Oregon wrestling team searches for a win tonight against Fresno State.
Bulldogs headed for the Pit
■ Oregon tries to rebound
from a tough Civil War loss
tonight at McArthur Court
against Fresno State
By Brett Williams
Oregon Daily Emerald
The young Oregon wrestling
team experienced a setback in its
24-13 loss to rival Oregon State
last Friday.
But don’t think the Duck grap
plers are going to let that affect
their play this Friday when Ore
gon battles Fresno State at
McArthur Court.
The Ducks’ third straight home
match should be tough for both
teams. Both squads have under
gone major facelifts since the last
time they met during the 1997-98
season, when Oregon won, 28
13.
While the Ducks have a large
number of true freshman in their
starting lineup, the Bulldogs
have tapped the junior college
ranks, recruiting four new play
ers this season.
However, each team is without
its best player. Oregon’s Chael
Sonnen and the Bulldogs’
Stephen Abas, Jr. are currently
both practicing with the U.S.
Olympic Team.
Oregon head coach Chuck
Kearney said his team’s main fo
cus is its own style, rather than
worrying about what kind' of
problems the opposing team may
present.
“With our group, we spend a
lot of time working on our stuff,”
Kearney said. “And not as much
time on the opponents. With our
youth, we want to be attacking as
a program, so what they’re doing
isn’t as important. We are con
centrating on things we’re doing,
and we want them to react to us
and our aggressive style.”
After last weekend’s loss to
Oregon State, Kearney was quick
to point out that, at this point in
the season, the productivity and
maturation of his younger play
ers is more important than wins
and losses.
“We want to go out and do
what we’ve been doing in prac
tice,” Kearney said. “Not worry
about results. Anytime we win
it’s a payback for beating a real
solid program, and that’s a bene
fit for us.”
Fresno State (5-3) participated
in a pair of tough matches last
weekend. The Bulldogs handed
San Francisco a 28-6 loss in the
first game of their doubleheader
before being manhandled in their
own gym by No.6 Illinois, 39-6.
Fatigue may have played a factor
in that loss.
But if the Bulldogs thought last
weekend was grueling, they may
be in for a rude awakening when
they reach Eugene. Fresno State
wrestles Portland at 10:00 pm on
Friday and then Central Wash
ington at 12 p.m. before traveling
south to Eugene to face the
Ducks.
Oregon has some idea of what
to expect from the Bulldogs. Both
teams participated in the Las Ve
gas Invitational earlier this year.
At the Invitational, the Bull
dogs’ Paris Ruiz placed second.
He will go toe-to-toe with Ore
gon’s Brian Watson, who’s com
ing off a big win against Oregon
State’s Ben Richards last week
end.
Ruiz is just one example of the
caliber of talent Fresno State
brings to the table. Kearney calls
the Bulldogs “top-to-bottom, a
real solid program.”
Oregon’s Eugene Harris will
have another tough match
against the Bulldogs. Harris, a
junior college transfer from
Lassen, was one of the Ducks’
most consistent wrestlers before
losing 7-0 against Oregon State’s
Eric Jorgenson. Harris will try to
rebound against Fresno State’s
Tim Cornish. Cornish was the
only Bulldog besides Ruiz to
record a victory against Illinois.
Men’s hoops
continued from page 7
The win was huge for the
Ducks, especially considering
that Washington clearly out
played Oregon in a sluggish first
half by the Ducks.
“This year in the PaC-10 con
ference, there is no such thing as
an ugly win on the road,” said
Oregon head coach Ernie Kent,
who snapped a personal three
game losing streak in Seattle. “It
was a tough-fought battle for us.
The character of this team
stepped up and did the job for us
down the stretch.”
Oregon appeared to have the
win toward the end of regulation
after a spinning lay-up by Bracey
gave the Ducks a 66-62 lead with
1 minute and 35 seconds left.
But Washington forward Thalo
Green — the 1996 Oregon High
School player of the year at
South Salem High — converted
four of his 13 points down the
stretch to tie the game at 66.
Oregon had a chance to win at
the end of regulation, as sopho
more guard Freddie Jones drove
to the basket and dished to Smith
under the hoop. But the ball
bounced off of his hands and out
of bounds with less than a sec
ond on the clock.
Smith was held to single digits
for the first time this year, finish
ing with just four points.
Smith’s play matched that of
his teammates early on, as it was
not clear whether Oregon was
mentally ready for the game.
Behind guard Deon Luton,
Washington came out as the ag
gressor and dictated the tempo of
the game. Luton converted on all
three of his three-point tries to
score 13 of his team-high 18
points in the half.
The Husky defense shut down
Oregon’s perimeter game and
most of its inside game in the
first half. Besides Bracey’s 12
point first-half performance, Ore
gon’s post players went a com
bined 0-for-6 in the half.
“We were out-of-sync offen
sively,” Kent said. “I noticed it as
soon as the game started that it
was going to be a long first half. It
took us a half to blow it out of our
system because you don’t come
back in a game and shoot 57 per
cent for as poorly as .we played in
that first half.”
Jones joined the Ducks point
parade and played a key role in
the win with 19 points, most
coming in the second half.
But following the game, atten
tion centered around Mr. Bracey.
“For a guy to go 10 for 10 is in
credible in the Pac-10 and in this
type of environment,” said Kent, .
whose team now travels to Wash
ington State to take on the
Cougars Saturday night. “He had
a big game at the right time, and
that’s an example of the depth on
this basketball team.”
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