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SPORTS EDITOR; JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com
Adam Amato Emerald
Oregon s Bryan Bracey (42) drives past Arizona’s Luke Walton for two of his game-high 23 points Thursday night. He also added eight rebounds.
Upset Wildcats feel Mac Court curse
Arizona is
toppled once
more by the
Ducks, but this
year’s game
may have
meant more to
Oregon’s
season than
2000’s effort
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
After the Oregon men’s basketball team beat
No. 3 Arizona at McArthur Court late last sea
son, Duck fans thought a bigger upset was im
possible.
Think again, Duck fans.
With its 79-67 victory over the No. 7 Wildcats
(14-6 overall, 6-2 Pacific-10 Conference) Thurs
day night, Oregon (12-6, 3-5) secured what was
easily its most important win of the season, and
possibly its most important in a few seasons.
“This was a breakthrough win for us,” Oregon
head coach Ernie Kent said.
Thinking in terms of the Ducks’ status before
the game — 2-5 in the Pac-10 and losers of two
straight — Kent said Thursday night’s victory
meant more to his team than anything else this
season.
Arizona thought it was simply overmatched
by the Ducks.
“They had us scouted to perfection,” WildcctK.
center Loren Woods said. “They executed per
fectly. ”
Arizona coach Lute Olson said his team had
only one excuse — it didn’t play as well as the
Ducks did.
“Oregon played about as well as they’re ever
going to play,” Olson said. “There’s no way we
should have won that game.”
The loss stopped Arizona’s six-game winning
streak, and was the first for the Wildcats since
Olson returned to the team from grieving for his
deceased wife. It was the team’s second loss
with Olson at the helm this season.
The upset moved Arizona to 6-2 in Pac-10
play, and two games behind Stanford for the
conference lead. With UCLA’s 92-63 loss to Cali
fornia, the Wildcats now share second place
with the Bruins and the Golden Bears.
“We take a minor step back,” Woods said.
“We’re not about to go down the hill. Oregon
came, they were a good team, and they beat us.
Oh well. We’ve just got to move on.”
While Arizona suffered a minor setback in its
Turn to Men side, page 9
Ducks give UA
The Pits in win
■The Ducks feed off the energy from their fans
to post a surprising win against the Wildcats
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald w'*-"™"’*,
With the aid of its faithful roaring
crowd, the Oregon men’s basketball
team revitalized its season in a con
vincing upset victory against a top
10 team.
The magic of McArthur Court
played a key role in sending No. 7
Arizona out of town a loser for the
second straight year. This time,
though, it wasn’t an improbable
comeback victory for the Ducks, as
last season’s was.
Instead, Oregon played solid de
fense, demonstrated good ball
movement and shut down Arizona’s
transition game in a 79-67 victory in
front of a sellout crowd of 9,087.
“This becomes another one of
those special games at Mac Court,”
Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said.
“I really want to compliment the
fans. They certainly gave us a nice
comfort zone and helped us main
tain the lead throughout the game.”
The Ducks (12-6 overall, 3-5 Pa
cific-10 Conference) needed one of
these types of games to help get
them out of the funk that had sent
them to five defeats in their previ
ous six games.
Oregon forward Bryan Bracey,
who scored a game-high 23 points
and grabbed a team-high eight re
bounds, said that the win was the
first key step toward turning this
ship around.
“We said today that we were start
ing our season over,” Bracey said.
“We were 0-0. And it starts with a
win tonight. We’re looking forward
to beating everyone else, and that’s
our goal. We know we’re a good
team.”
The Ducks did everything they
had to do to pull off the upset, and
that included playing a full 40 min
utes of basketball. Arizona took an
early 8-5 lead, but then Oregon went
on a 12-2 run to take a lead it would
never relinquish.
“The key to this game was that we
Turn to Men, page 9
a m
becomes
another one
of those
special
games at
Mac Court.
Ernie Kent
Oregon
head
coach
-------1
‘D’ is for disappointment as UO women lose in Tucson
The Oregon
women fall
out of first
place in the
Pac-10 by
losing to the
Wildcats
By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
Oregon’s offense was present
from its first possession, when cen
ter Jenny
Mowe scored
on an easy in
bound basket
on the pass
from forward
B r i a n n e
Meharry.
But when
the Duck women’s basketball team
ran down the floor to stop Ari
zona’s offense, something bad hap
pened — the defense didn’t follow.
And as Oregon’s “D” was
nowhere to be seen, the Wildcats
(15-5 overall, 5-3 Pacific-10 Con
ference) used 54.2 percent shoot
ing to bury the defenseless Ducks,
88-76, in front of 2,550 people at
the McKale Center in Tucson, Ariz.
“I think we did not have a good
defensive effort tonight,” Oregon
head coach Jody Runge told Ray
Martin on KSCR radio. “When
they made their run in the second
half, we scored plenty of points to
win a basketball game, but we just
kept putting them on the free
throw line time after time after
time, or let them have dribble pen
etration right down the gut. ”
The Ducks (12-6, 5-3) lost their
share of first place in the Pac-10.
Meanwhile, red-hot Arizona State
beat Oregon State, 58-51, winning
its fifth straight game and taking
sole possession of first place in the
conference race.
Oregon must recover from the
loss by 6 p,m. Saturday, when it
looks to derail the Sun Devils’ win
ning streak.
“They’re a very good basketball
team; they’re playing very well at
home,” Runge said. “It will be a
tremendous challenge for us to go
over there and regroup from a loss
on the road.”
After Mowe put the game’s first
points on the scoreboard, Arizona
point guard Reshea Bristol re
sponded with a three-pointer,
sparking a 17-2 Wildcat run
through the next eight minutes.
The Ducks’ defense made a
cameo appearance near the end of
the first half, and Oregon actually
took a 43-40 lead early in the sec
ond period.
But Arizona used a balance at
tack to reclaim the lead. With eight
minutes remaining and the score
63-57 in favor ofthe Wildcats, Bris
tol was fouled on a layup and sank
the free throw, then hit another trey
to give her team a 10-point lead.
Oregon never got close after that.
“We just did not defend the bas
ketball tonight, and that’s some
thing we’re supposed to be known
for and do pretty good,” Runge
Turn to Women, page 9
I think
we did not
have a good
defensive
effort
tonight
Jody Runge
Oregon
head
coach