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.
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