Oregon daily emerald., January 31, 2000, Page 12, Image 12

Post play
continued from page 9
“There are a lot of individually
strong players that you have to
take out,” said Smith, who was 9
of 15 from the field. “[UCLA
guard Jason] Kapono and Moiso
are both tough players, and you
have to work really hard just to
try to contain Moiso.”
Ducks coach Ernie Kent made
halftime adjustments that frus
trated the Bruins’ twin towers.
“We came out and double
teamed Moiso in the second half
and got him out of his rhythm,”
Kent said. “We were having
them take tough shots and keep
ing them off the boards. Then we
were pounding it inside to
Bracey and A.D., and they got
into their rhythm.”
Smith said the Ducks per
formed well defensively.
“We had to take them individ
ually, on one-on-one basis,” said
Smith. “I had to stop Moiso, and
I think we did a good job with
that.”
Oregon started slow in the first
half, falling behind 14-4 in the
opening minutes before climbing
back to cut the deficit to two at
halftime.
“At the start of the game, I was
thinking we had to start defend
ing,” Bracey said. “We had to
start playing with some energy.”
Bracey — who provided Ore
gon with needed energy in the
Ducks comeback with seven
first-half points off the bench —
emphasized the importance of
the game being close at halftime.
“We didn’t want them to go in
at halftime thinking they could
win,” Bracey said. “It gave us a
lot of confidence knowing that
we came back from being down
a lot.”
Smith said the teams’ attitude
was positive at the half.
“We felt pretty good about
things and that we could come
back,” Smith said. “We came out
strong in the second half.”
To begin the half, Kent opted
to start Bracey in place of Flo
Hartenstein. The move definite
ly paid off, as Smith and Bracey
pushed the Ducks to an over
whelming 18-0 run.
Smith said he was unaware
Oregon put together such a huge
of run.
“The 18-0 run is news to me,”
Smith said. “I knew we put a
pretty good run on them. It went
from being tight to putting it
away with four to five minutes to
go. I didn’t know we held them
scoreless for that long. That
means our defense did a pretty
nice job.”
Kent was impressed with
Smith and Bracey’s rebounding
during the pivofal run.
“If you’re holding them with
out a score for that long, you’re
doing a pretty good job on the
boards,” Kent said.
The Bruins were rattled in
McArthur Court, a sign that
Smith said points to their youth.
“In this conference, there
aren’t many senior-led teams,”
Smith said. “We’re really one of
the only ones. There are a lot of
freshman and sophomores out
there, and our crowd can really
take advantage of that.
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Michael Crisp Emerald
A.D. Smith is glad the Ducks won in a blowout, not another last-minute affair.
Basketball
continued from page 9
tie for first place with Arizona,
Southern California and Stanford.
Its 6-1 league record is the pro
gram’s best start ever and will
likely give the Ducks their first
top-25 ranking of the year.
“I’m just glad that we finally
have the opportunity to gain the re
spect that we deserve nationally,”
Bracey said. “We’ve always been a
good team, but we haven’t always
played up to our potential.”
Like in the first 15 minutes of
the game when UCLA came out as
the aggressors. But Oregon head
coach Ernie Kent knew this was a
war and got his troops to fight.
With six minutes and 29 seconds
remaining in the first half, Kent’s
team trailed the visiting UCLA Bru
ins by a score of 23-13. Kent quickly
dispersed of his jacket — an action
he usually waits to do until at least
the second half.
Once the jacket was lost, the
Ducks went on to outscore the
Bruins 16-8 to cut the lead to 31
29 at the half. It was Kent’s belief
in his team that helped the play
ers overcome their sluggish start.
“He was pretty happy with the
comeback that we had,” said sen
ior forward A.D. Smith. “We did
n’t start too well, but we still felt
pretty good about things. We
knew we had a good chance to
come back and pick things up in
the second half, and fortunately
that’s what happened.”
Players and coaches agreed that
one of the biggest reasons for the
comeback was the effect that the
crowd had. But Kent noted that,
early on, the energetic fans may
have played in UCLA’s favor.
“We talked prior to the game
that this crowd was going to ele
vate UCLA’s game because their
players were so hyped up,” Kent
said. “But as the reality of the
game took shape, the crowd really
worked to our advantage. It was
the Mac Court of old.”
The crowd w'as at its loudest dur
ing a pivotal stretch in the second
half that saw momentum complete
ly switch in favor of the Ducks.
UCLA’s Jason Kapono drilled a
three with 11:53 to go, giving the
Bruins the 40-39 advantage, and
seemingly, the confidence to bat
tle the Ducks right to the end.
But in the ensuing 6 1/2 min
utes, senior point guard Darius
Wright and the Ducks dominated
all phases of the game — holding
the Bruins scoreless on 10 straight
possessions — en route to an 18-0
run that put the game on ice.
It was he who immediately fol
lowed Kapono’s three with a three
of his own to ignite the rally and
give Oregon a two-point lead that
it wouldn’t relinquish.
It was he who launched a beau
tiful full-court pass to a streaking
Alex Scales for the up-and-under
reverse lay-in.
It was his three-pointer with
9:34 to go gave the Ducks an 11
point advantage and really took
the crowd to an insane level.
And finally, it was he who
capped the rally with a perfectly
placed alley-oop pass to Freddie
Jones, who threw it down for the
emphatic exclamation point.
“We talk about him a lot be
cause he is the guy that energizes
us,” said Kent of his point guard
that finished with nine assists.
“Darius moved over to the shoot
ing guard spot and gave us an op
portunity to extend the court and
open this thing up. He stabilized
the floor for us.”
But in Wright’s usual passive
demeanor, he dished credit to
everyone but himself.
“Coach told me to get open
looks and step up and knock them
down,” said Wright, whose three
three-pointers were the Ducks
only ones out of 15 attempts.
“Guys set some good screens, and
they found me. I just happened to
hit the shots.”
Utner players wno nit snots tor
Oregon were Smith with 18
points, junior forward Bryan
Bracey with 16 points and senior
forward Scales with 14 points.
Scales and Bracey also con
tributed a combined 14 free
throws as Oregon (20-24) outshot
the Bruins (4-6) from the line.
All of this helped Oregon win
the war Saturday night, but just
like in the pregame huddles, Ore
gon wouldn’t be had.
Following the game, it could
loudly be heard that this loss
broke the Bruins’ backs. In a
closed-doors tirade, Bruin head
coach Steve Lavin criticized and
senior Sean Farnham berated.
Farnham, who had zero points
in one minute of action, was
heard yelling — while pounding
his fist into the wall — “I’m not
going out like this! I’m not going
to the NIT!”
On the Other side of the spectrum,
Oregon players were all smiles.
“Tonight was a lot of fun,” Jones
said. “Our crowd was super and
really made it exciting. Now it’s
time to take the show on the road.”