Sports Editor:
Adam Jude
adamjude@dailyemerald.com
Assistant Sports Editor:
Jeff Smith
jeffsmith@dailyemerald.com
Friday, January 11,2002
Best Bet
East-West Shrine Game,
10:30 a.m. Saturday, ESPN2
Men get Golden win
in final four minutes
Oregon 76
Cal 72
■ Oregon erases a seven-point
deficit to secure a victory over
California and stay undefeated
at Mac Court this season
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Oregon men played four min
utes of solid basketball Thursday night.
Good enough.
The Ducks trailed by seven points
with 4:36 left in the game, but stormed
back to beat the Golden Bears of Califor
nia, 76-72, in front of 8,504 fans at
McArthur Court. Oregon (11-4 overall,
4-1 Pacific-10 Confer
ence) won its ninth
straight home game,
while California (10
3, 1-2) dropped its
third-straight road
contest.
“The biggest thing
is that we were able to
pull out one of these close games,” said
Oregon head coach Ernie Kent, whose
Ducks have lost four tight games on the
road this season. “It allowed us to step
up and grow as a program.”
Oregon was able to come back on Cal
with a run of good shooting and better
defense at the end of the contest. With
four and a half minutes left in the game,
California center Amit Tamir hit a long
three-pointer to put Cal ahead 65-58.
But on the next possession, Oregon
guard Freddie Jones collected a re
bound on an Anthony Lever miss, put
it back and drew the foul to pull the
Ducks within four. On Cal’s next pos
session, Golden Bear guard Shantay
Legans dribbled the ball off his knee,
giving the ball back to the Ducks.
“We made some mistakes that
helped to narrow the gap,” California
head coach Ben Braun said after the
game. “We had a couple of turnovers
and other things all in the same stretch
that really hurt us.”
With less than four minutes left,
Oregon guard Luke Ridnour — who
had been cold all game — drilled a
three-pointer to make the score 65-64
California. Two free throws by Luke
Jackson on the Ducks’ next possession
gave Oregon its first lead since the
3:31 mark of the first half. It was a lead
the Ducks would not relinquish.
“Ridnour hit a real clutch three
down the stretch,” Jones said. “That
motivated us, and told us it was time
to take over the game.”
The Ducks made eight free throws
over the game’s final minute to seal
the win.
Oregon players made it to the chari
ty stripe 45 times to California’s 11, a
Turn to Men’s, page 8
Thomas Patterson Emerald
Oregon’s Freddie Jones, who scored 22 points, drives against Cal’s A.J. Diggs in the Ducks’ 76-72 victory Thursday.
Ducks wake up when it counts after being slowed by Bears
■After struggling in the closing
minutes all season, the Ducks
pull out a close one over Cal
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
Like most students this week,
the Oregon men’s basketball play
ers were having to adjust to the
back-to-school lifestyle.
It had been a month of sleep, eat
and basketball. Now, they had to
add getting up early and going to
school to the equation.
“We just came off a long break
where it was just basketball,” said
guard Freddie Jones, who scored 22
points Thursday. “We just weren’t
into it tonight. We were kind of out
of sync the whole game. ”
Well, not exactly the whole
game. There was the last four min
utes where the Ducks finally found
a rhythm and somehow found a
way to pull out the victory after
trailing 65-58 with 4:36 to play.
The final stat sheet shows that
Oregon out-fought California, 76
72, Thursday night in front of 8,504
at McArthur Court. But the real key,
the Ducks said, was to fight through
their own sluggishness and survive
a slowed-down style of play.
“We gutted it through a grind
out game,” Oregon head coach
Ernie Kent said.
Cal entered the game with the
best defense in the Pacific-10
Conference. Oregon entered the
game with the best offense in the
conference.
In the first half, the advantage
went to Cal’s defense, which
forced the Ducks to play in the
half-court and not get out and run
as much as they like to. After
back-to-back threes by Luke Rid
nour and Jones at the 10:26 mark
of the half, Oregon did not convert
a field goal until a buzzer-beating
trey by Anthony Lever evened the
score at 30 heading into the break.
“We didn’t play great basket
ball in the first half and they had
a lot to do with it,” Kent said.
“They switched a lot and we did
n’t do a good job of reading their
mismatches.”
The second half appeared to
keep going Cal’s way, with the
Bears seemingly converting a ral
ly-killing shot each time the Pit
started to go crazy.
But then came the last four min
utes of the game when Oregon’s
defense decided to give Cal a taste
of its own medicine.
Turn to Men’s side, page 12
Second-half surge gives Ducks victory
■Oregon defeats California, 65-53, for its
fifth conference win to stay in second place
By Hank Hager
Oregon Daily Emerald
Bev Smith, you may now wipe the sweat from your brow.
After trailing by as much as seven points to California on Thurs
day, the Oregon women’s basketball team woke up and pulled
ahead in the second half, defeating the Golden Bears (5-9 overall, 0
5 Pacific-10 Conference) 65-53 at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley.
Out-scored and over-played in the first half,
the Ducks (10-6,5-2) were in danger of losing
their second game straight of the young Pac-10
season before sophomore Cathrine
Kraayeveld stepped into the spotlight.
‘ ‘Cathrine is kind of a freak, ” junior Shaquala
Williams told KSZRradio after the game. “She
has great hands, she can shoot, and she can fin
ish. It makes your fife as a point guard that much easier. ”
Kraayeveld, a 6-foot-3 forward, finished with 15 points and
10 rebounds—her second career double-double—and her 35
minutes played ties a career high. In her five starts this sea
son, the Ducks are 4-1.
Turn to Women’s, page 10
Adam Amato Emerald
Andrea Bills (left) and Jamie Craighead (10), seen here against
Western Oregon, helped the Ducks to a 65-53 win over Cal on Thursday.
Oregon wrestlers
host No. 4 Michigan
■At the midway points, the Ducks will host their
second match of the season tonight at Mac Court
By Chris Cabot
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Oregon wrestling team’s meet against No. 4 Michigan
at 7:30 p.m. today marks what could be considered the mid
way point in the season for the Ducks.
After nine competitions, eight of which
were away from Eugene, head coach Chuck
Kearney’s squad returns to the cozy confines
of McArthur Court with a 3-3 dual meet
record. The meet against the Wolverines starts
a run of 10 duals, eight of which are at home.
Kearney said his team’s return will be a
tough test, as the Wolverine lineup features a ranked com
petitor at every weight class. Michigan has also won its last
11 dual meets.
Michigan “is solid from top to bottom — a very good team,”
Kearney said.
Turn to Wrestling, page 9