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Kevin Calame Emerald
Chris Christoffersen and Kristian Christensen react with disappointment and dissat
isfaction as the clock winds down in Oregon’s loss against Washington.
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February 29,2000
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Basketball
continued from page 11
against the Ducks gave the
Huskies their most road wins in a
season since 1986.
“We’ve been good on the road,”
said Washington head coach Bob
Bender, who has led the Huskies
to the NCAA Tournament the last
two years. “It’s my responsibility
to make us better at home. Now
we got three straight home games
before we finish up on the road,
so I’m anxiolis to see how we re
spond.”
Oregon sealed its own fate in
the second half, shooting poorly
from the field and the line (61.8
percent). The Ducks’ poor shoot
ing allowed Washington to calmly
erase Oregon’s eight point half
time lead and left Oregon scrap
ing its way back into the game
during the waning moments.
With two minutes left and
down 58-53, it appeared that Ore
gon guard Alex Scales might pull
out some Mac Court magic fol
lowing his dunk and ensuing free
throw, which cut the Washington
lead to two.
That’s when the Huskies deliv
ered the play of the game, a touch
pass from guard Bryan Brown to a
wide-open Thalo Green under the
basket. Oregon forward A.D.
Smith was too late recovering,
and Green scored despite being
fouled. His free throw gave Wash
ington a lead that proved to be too
large for Oregon to overcome.
“We got doubled, but that's
okay,” Bender said. “We want to
be doubled so we can find the
open man, and we found the open
man that obviously completed the
play. That’s the difference in a
close game like this.”
Green — who played prep bas
ketball at South Salem and led the
Saxons to a state championship in
1996 — has had some of his best
collegiate games during his re
turns to his native state. Last sea
Jeff Smith
continued from page 11
back in the game.”
And when Smith’s misses turned
into Washington possessions, the
go-to guy was usually Green, who
got the job done in A.D. Smith-like
fashion. He found ways to put the
ball in the hole in not-so spectacu
lar plays. He finished with a game
high 16 points and eight rebounds
and converted the play that broke
the Ducks’ backs.
Alex Scales converted a free
throw to cut the Husky lead to 58
56 with one minute and 24 sec
onds remaining. The Pit was final
ly rocking, and the Oregon defense
was running wild. But they dou
bled up on Washington guard
Bryan Brown, leaving Green wide
open underneath the basket.
With the Oregon defense failing
to rotate, Brown touch-passed it
to Green who banked in the
layup. To make matters worse,
Smith fouled him, and Green
drained the free throw to convert
the three-point play to give the
Huskies the 61-56 advantage with
56 seconds left.
“That’s Thalo at his best,”
Washington head coach Bob Ben
der said. “He can do that all the
time. He just keeps things so sim
ple, and it’s just a matter of being
consistent.
“I think there’s a great compari
son with him and A.D. Smith.
They are a great testament to guys
who keep it simple and make a
difference.”
The similarities run deep.
Smith was the 1995 Oregon
high school player of the year
while at Churchill.
Green was the 1996 Oregon
high school player of the year
son, he scored 13 points against
both Oregon and Oregon State,
and on Saturday he was the
Huskies’ leading scorer with 16
points on 6-of-10 shooting.
Green admits he enjoys the at
mosphere when he comes back to
Oregon.
“This is a great place to play,
and they have a great crowd,”
Green said. “Oregon’s a great bas
ketball team, and this was a char
acter win for us.”
Oregon head coach Ernie Kent
said the mental instability of his
team was the main reason the
Ducks were unable to play to their
potential.
“I don’t want to make excuses,
but this team was mentally fa
tigued,” Kent said. “We were just
a flat basketball team. A lot of
point-blank shots were made by a
lot of good shooters.”
In the early moments, Oregon
looked as if it was going to blow
the game wide open. After a three
(( Oregon’s a great bas
ketball team, and this
was a character win for
us.
Thalo Green
Washington forward j j
pointer and a jump shot from
Scales, the Ducks had a 7-0 lead.
Luckily, the overzealous student
section refrained from declaring a
win was set in stone.
It didn’t take long for the
Huskies to tie the game after inter
mission. Washington guard Deon
Lutton knotted the score with a
jump shot at the 14:00 mark, and
the Huskies never looked back.
Green extended Washington’s
lead to 51-43 on his jump shot
with just over six minutes left and
from then on, the Ducks never got
closer than a two-point deficit.
while at South Salem.
Both were forced to red-shirt
the 1996-97 college season due to
injuries.
They are close in height and
weight, and play the game with
the same amount of passion and
importance on the basic funda
mentals.
So it is not surprising that both
speak so highly of each other.
“You have to focus on A.D.
‘cause he’s such a smart player,”
Green said. “We’ve matched up
against each other plenty of times
in the past and I enjoy playing
against the guy because he’s such
a great player.”
“I’ve known Thalo a long time,
and he’s a good player,” Smith said.
“He works hard and is a big reason
that they had success tonight. He
did a good job defensively and he’s
done a nice job for them for the last
couple of years when they went to
the [NCAA] tournament.”
It is safely assumed that when
March 12 rolls around, it will be
the Ducks who will be granted
with an NCAA tourney berth. And
it will be the Huskies who will be
forced to sit at home and observe
for the first time in three years.
But on this one night, none of
that mattered.
Smith sat there in the corner of
the media room, shaking his head
slowly in frustration.
While Green — with his curly
red hair dripping sweat onto his
nose — soaked up the feeling of
stealing a win in his home state.
March Madness may be in the
future for Smith.
But at this exact moment in
time, Green was enjoying the
present.
Jeff Smith is‘a sports reporter for the
Emerald.