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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 2000)
UO wrestling road trip proves to be bumpy ride ■ The Ducks drop two matches against nationally ranked conference foes By Matt O’Neill Oregon Daily Emerald Two ranked opponents, two losses. That was the outcome for the Oregon wrestling team as it wrapped up its recent three match road trip. Coming off a tough 20-19 win at Brigham Young, the Ducks hoped to build momentum heading into the final stretch of the season by knocking off two ranked Pacific-10 Conference foes. But that was not the case, as Oregon (10-5 overall, 5-3 Pac-10) fell to No. 22 Boise State (7-3, 3-0) and No. 13 Arizona State (9-7, 3 0), snapping its six-match win ning streak. In Idaho, the Oregon grapplers jumped out to an early 11-7 lead after the first four matches, but were unable to score another point for the rest of the night. The Ducks won the first match of the night, as Tony Overstake im proved his record to 18-7 on the season by beating former Oregon wrestler, Jay McGuffin (8-3). The Ducks then suffered two defeats at the hands of Kirk White and Larry Quisel. Quisel defeated junior college transfer Eugene Harris (9-6) at the 157-pound weight-class, while White handed sophomore Leif Williams a 16-6 defeat at thel65-pound category. The Lee brothers then rallied and propelled the Ducks to their only lead of the night. Freshman Matt Lee, wrestled up a weight class and defeated BSU’s Kyle Kl onizos to give Oregon an 8-7 lead. Then nationally-ranked Doug Lee extended that lead to 11-7, when he defeated Cash Edwards by a technical fall (18-1). However, the Ducks’ lead evap orated as the Broncos reeled off 17 consecutive points to win. Oregon then headed to Tempe, Ariz. to take on ASU, but suffered their 15th loss to the Sun Devils. The Ducks burst out of the gates quickly, jumping ahead 3-0. Har ris got Oregon going when he won the first-match of the night at the 157-pound weight-class. The sophomore recorded a 6-3 deci sion over Nick Frost. But that lead was only tempo rary as the Ducks managed only two wins the rest of the night. Se nior Doug Lee pinned Mike Mar shall at the 3:23 mark in the match, and Eric Webb recorded a 7-3 decision over Randy Leydeck er in the heavy-weight division. Head coach Chuck Kearney was forced to juggle his line-up a because of an injury to Jake Leair at the 197-pound position. Kear ney moved senior Jesse Kulp up a slot to 184-pounds. Basketball continued from page 7 Pac-10 sweep for the first time since January 1996 — and its first at home since 1992. Not at all an ideal situation for a team working hard to repeat as Pac-10 champions. “I wouldn’t call it worried,” said head coach Jody Runge when asked about her feelings at that point in the game. “I think I was mad.” Suffice to say, Runge was hap pier after watching her team snap back from the 13-point deficit. “When we were down by 13, we had a choice,” sophomore Shaquala Williams said. “We could either stay there or jump up over the wall. It was in our con trol. We said, ‘This is our season right here; either we want it or we don’t. We’re gonna find out.’” This is what they discovered: Kourtney Shreve wants it. The freshman guard gave Ore gon an unexpected and very nec essary infusion of spunk — and 10 big-time points in 16 minutes. Not surprisingly, forward Lind sey Dion — whose minutes are progressively increasing as she re covers from post-concussion syn drome — provided her typical all out, all-important hustle plays. And despite a “real bad” stom ach ache early, Williams did what she does: defending, scoring, mak ing things happen. She had 25 points, three steals and two assists. Stimulated largely by the ener gy of those three, Oregon went on a whirlwind of a run, outscoring the Sun Devils 20-5 in the next 10 minutes. And beside starting to click on offense, the Ducks on the floor also picked up their defense and rebounding. Then Shreve capped the surge with a three-pointer that put the Ducks ahead 46-44 with 8 min utes, 4 seconds left. Oregon, re-energized and refo cused, didn’t look back, outscor ing Arizona State 20-11 the rest of the way. “All of the time we’re playing as hard as we can,” Dion said. “But at times we’re not doing the little thing and we’re not execut ing, so it doesn’t look pretty and it doesn’t sit right with us.” Sunday’s run, Runge hopes, will help bolster the Ducks’ confi dence that that type of production is attainable, night-in and night out. “We have players who are not playing with great confidence right now,” Runge said. “It bears on this team to have individuals put together their best game every time we take the floor. That’s what a championship team is all about. “It’s not that we have anything that’s broken, it’s just if it’s coming together right now. I think that it’s very probable that it is.” Men’s hoops continued from page 7 the baseline to cut the lead to 47 32, Arizona State started to un ravel at the seams. Bryan Bracey, Jones, Smith, and Anthony Nor wood scored consecutive baskets to push the Oregon lead to 22 be fore the Sun Devils’ Donnell Knight stopped the bleeding with a three that cut the Ducks’ lead to 57-36. Unfortunately for Arizona State, Oregon hadn’t peaked yet. After two free throws from Smith and bucket by Flo Hartenstein — who had one of his best games of the season with nine points and eight boards on 4-of-6 shooting — the Ducks were embarrassing the Sun Devils, 63-38. Arizona State’s Kyle Dodd cut the Sun Devils deficit to 79-68 on a steal from guard Darius Wright. But by that time there was under two minutes left and students were having a devil of a time try ing exit the arena. Oregon’s defensive effort on House was nothing short of wiz ardry. House, one of the premier offensive players in the country, was virtually shut down by the Ducks. The Sun Devils’ guard was 5 of 19 from the field and man aged only 15 points. The Ducks perimeter defense was so tough that House couldn’t manage a three- pointer until there was under five minutes left. “It was just a great defensive ef fort and a tremendous job on one of the premier players in the coun try in Eddie House,” Kent said. Smith, a fifth-year senior, is in unchartered territory. After the fi nal game of the first half of confer ence play, the Ducks have the best conference record in his tenure with the team and one of the best starts in Oregon history. “It’s a cliche, but we really have to take it one at a time,” Smith said. “Tonight was a big win. There is a big difference between being 6-3 and 7-2. We’re still with in striking distance of Stanford and Arizona. id you know that 5-10 million women and J1 million men struggle with eating disorders? Join us to discuss issues relating to body dissatisfaction, dieting, and the devastating effects of eating disorders during the A 99E860 And be sure to check out the ground stakes across campus for information regarding myths and facts of eating disorders. Call the University Health Center at 346-2728 or check out our web site at http:// healthed.uoregon.edu for more information. oraers Awareness* Prevention Week, February 14-18 * §r % mt Make it Happen!
