SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com
UO loses in another wild ending at The Pit
■ Washington came away with
a big road win when Oregon's
last-second shot was ruled too
late
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
McArthur Court, a building that has
hosted its fair share of frantic endings,
was again the venue for an unbeliev
able finish — one that sent Oregon
fans home in shock and dejection.
The Ducks fell
to their Northwest
rival Washington
Huskies 72-71 in
overtime on a con
troversial final
play that left the
crowd of 8,786
wondering exactly
what had tran
spired.
“I’m not sure what happened,”
Oregon forward Luke Jackson said.
The scene: Oregon trailing by one
with six seconds left in overtime after
Washington freshman Curtis Allen
banked in a clutch spinning layin.
After a timeout, Freddie Jones
dribbles the length of the court, and
then loses control of the ball amidst a
double-team of Husky defenders.
Jones grabs and tips it to freshman
teammate Luke Ridnour, who instinc
tively flicks up a shot almost simulta
neous with the sound of the buzzer.
The ball slides down the net, but
is emphatically waved off by referee
Bobby McRoy.
“I just got it and shot it ... it’s too
close to tell,” Ridnour said.
Oregon fans beginning to storm
the court are stopped in their tracks
by the reality that Washington has
won the game.
The game was not televised and,
therefore, there were no replays for
the referees to review.
But at 10 p.m., Oregon head coach
Ernie Kent was able to view the play
for the first time through the eyehole
of KMTR-TV’s camera in the media
room.
“You bet it was, absolutely,” Kent
said, believing that Ridnour’s shot
should have counted. “As you can
see clearly, the shot was good to me.”
Washington head coach Bob Ben
der wasn’t sure if the shot was late,
but didn’t want that to diminish his
team’s win.
“I just knew that it was going to go in
-that’s just the type of game this was,”
Bender said. “I looked for an official
and saw they called it off. This was re
ally an emotional win for us. ”
The heartbreaking defeat was Ore
gon’s third straight loss. It dropped
the Ducks to 10-4 overall and 1-3 in
the Pacific-10 Conference, making
the road to the NCAA Tournament
an uphill climb. Washington (8-9, 2
3), on the other hand, snapped the
Ducks’ nine-game home winning
streak, which coincidentally began
after the Huskies beat them in Eu
gene last season.
Oregon knows it can’t look back
on that final play because its own
poor shooting was its real downfall.
The Ducks made just seven field
goals in the first half and finished
with 34.5 shooting percentage from
the field. Even worse, Oregon con
verted on only three of its 22 three
point attempts.
“We were out-played and out-en
ergized,” said Kent, whose players
held a lengthy closed-door meeting
following the game. “We made key
mistakes and didn’t match their in
telligence level. We definitely
weren’t ready to play.”
Oregon was led in scoring by
Bryan Bracey, who scored eight of
his game-high 23 points in the final
1:12 of regulation to send the game
to overtime. Washington was paced
by South Salem High graduate Thalo
Green, who couldn’t stop smiling af
ter scoring 22 points in his final game
at Mac Court.
“I’m going to miss this place incred
ibly,” Green said. “I love the hostile en
vironment. They expect you to lose.”
As Green said good-bye to The Pit,
Washington’s Allen greeted it with a
game-winner.
“It feels good, especially here in
Oregon, and to send those fans home
sad-faced,” said the freshman from
Tacoma, Wash.
As for Oregon, it must regroup in a
hurry for Saturday’s 3 p.m. contest
with Washington State.
“We have to come out like our life
is on the line,” Jones said.
Tom Patterson Emerald
Oregon freshman point guard Luke Ridnour nearly won the game for the
Ducks, but his overtime jumper was released just after the buzzer.
Rivals Ridnour, Allen face off in overtime shocker
■ Key shots came from rival
freshman guards Luke Ridnourand
Curtis Allen in a back-and-forth
battle
By Robbie McCallum
Oregon Daily Emerald
Fate must have driven it.
The Washington Huskies, down 71-70 with
24 seconds in overtime, call backup freshman
point guard Curtis Allen’s number to make
what would be the go-ahead layup.
The ball kisses the backboard before
falling in.
“I was anxious,” Allen said, higher than
life. “I knew I had to get the ball up. ”
The Oregon Ducks, down 72-71 with six
seconds left in overtime, lose the ball and
scramble for it. The ball ends up in freshman
point guard Luke Ridnour’s hands. Ridnour
flings the ball upward as the buzzer sounds.
The ball falls in... an instant too late.
“I just flicked it up to the basket,” a deject
ed Ridnour said. “I didn’t know how much
time was left. It just came to me. ”
This was not the first time Ridnour and
Allen have clashed. Ridnour, a three-time
Washington state class 2 A player of the year
from Blaine, Wash., was considered the best
recruit to come out of Washington last sea
son. Allen, the Washington state class 4A
player of the year out of Tacoma, Wash., was
considered the second best.
“Me and Luke have been playing each
other since sixth grade,” Allen said. “He’s a
great player - more power to him. It was fun
to compete against him tonight.”
“[Allen] stepped it up tonight,” Ridnour
said. “He kept them in the game. He played
really good.”
Allen jump-started his team in the second
half, making layup after layup and scoring a
career-high 12 points and six rebounds for
the victorious Huskies.
In the second half, Ridnour played almost
flawlessly, scoring eight points, making a
key steal and committing zero turnovers.
But where were the freshman counter
parts in the first half?
The two combined for zero points, one as
sist and seven turnovers.
Ridnour struggled as the Ducks fell be
hind by as many as 13 points in the first half.
Allen carried his team through the second
half as the Huskies squandered their lead.
But both players found their groove and
the ball when it counted.
“Curtis had a great game,” Washington
head coach Bob Bender said. “He had the
space to put the ball through comfortably.”
Bender went up to Ridnour following the
hectic finish.
“I told Luke, ‘Keep your head up. You did
good,’” Bender said.Allen and Ridnour will
no doubt meet many more times on the court
in the next four years, although they may
never play in a Pacific-10 Conference game
more exciting than their first against each oth
er.
Win streak continues, but UO loses key players in Seattle
■The Ducks score 14
unanswered points to defeat
rival Washington, 67-53
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Oregon women’s basketball
team won its seventh straight game
Thursday night
in Seattle — but
at a hefty price.
Just five min
utes into the con
test, Oregon’s An
gelina Wolvert
left the game with
a second-degree
sprain of the medial collateral liga
ment (MCL) in her left knee.
Wolvert returned to Eugene to begin
treatment immediately, which will
force her to miss Saturday’s game at
Washington State — if not more.
And then, to top it all off, senior
scrapper Lindsey Dion went down
with an ankle sprain at the 3:30
mark of the second half. Her status
is unknown for Saturday’s game.
Whatever the cost, in the end, it
added up to a 67-53 victory for No. 18
Oregon (11-3, 4-0), which is in sole
possession of first place after Arizona
lost to Southern California Thursday.
“We’re wounded,” Oregon head
coach Jody Runge told KNRQ. “Ob
viously it’s a tough loss with Ange
going down.”
The Ducks have won 10 straight
against the Huskies, and hold a 30
28 all-time series lead.
Senior forward Brianne Meharry
started the second half in place of
Wolvert, and even with three fouls,
she proved to be just what the
Ducks needed.
The 6-foot-2 Meharry scored Ore
gon’s first seven points of the second
period, igniting the Ducks to a 10-4
run, before picking up her fourth foul
with 15:28 remaining. After sitting
for more than 10 minutes, Meharry
returned to score on a spin move in
the post to break a 53-53 tie and start
another Oregon run. This time, the
Ducks went on a 14-0 spurt to finish
the game, holding the Huskies score
less for the final five minutes.
Prior to Oregon’s final run, the
game had been tied nine times, with
Washington holding a five-point lead
midway through the second.“I was
just very pleased that we were able to
get our composure and poise back,”
said Runge, who improved to 13-2
against Washington in her eight years
at Oregon. “We did a good job of set
tling down and executing the things
we try to do every day.”
The wholehearted rivalry between
the Ducks and the Huskies has never
looked so gory. In addition to Wolvert
and Dion’s injuries, senior post Jen
ny Mowe left the game on several oc
casions with blows to the face, and
Washington freshman GiulianaMen
diola had to step off the court late in
the game. Additionally, a total of 36
fouls were committed (16 bv Oregon,
20 by Washington).
Junior Jamie Craighead, the Pac
10 Player of the Week last week, was
looking to retain her crown with an
other spectacular performance on
her homecoming. The Elma, Wash.,
native tallied a career-high 16
points on 5-for-10 shooting (3 for 6
from three-point range).
Entering Thursday’s game, center
Jenny Mowe averaged just 20.9 min
utes per game, but with Wolvert out
and Meharry in foul trouble, Mowe
was the key for Oregon. She played
35 minutes against the Huskies, tab
bing a double-double — 10 points
and 10 rebounds.
The Ducks, the worst rebounding
team in the league prior to the game,
out-boarded the league’s best re
bounding team 44-38.