Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012, February 18, 2002, Page 9, Image 9

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    No fighting seen in this war
■The men’s basketball
Civil War has been peaceful
over the past few seasons
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
This is the Civil War, but “war”
might as well be taken out of the
equation.
During the last seven years, the
Oregon in-state men’s basketball ri
valry has been more “civil” than
“war.”
Since the 1994-95 season, the
Ducks have taken 17 of 18 games
from the Beavers. On Saturday
night, Oregon posted an easy 91-62
victory at McArthur Court, ensur
ing a season sweep of the series un
less the two teams meet again in the
season-ending Pacific-10 Confer
ence Tournament.
The 29-point spread was the
Ducks’ largest margin of victory
over Oregon State since a 30-21 win
in 1929. “Oregon is as good a team
as I have seen as a head coach,”
Oregon State coach Ritchie McKay
said after Saturday’s contest.
This is the language of a Civil War
that is perhaps currently the most
lopsided of any of the multiple rival
ry games played between Oregon
and Oregon State; the coaches and
players are cordial, the games “fun”
Men’s
continued from page 7
Oregon State had closed to with
in 28-25 with 6:10 to play in the
half after the Ducks had taken an
18-4 lead to open the game.
“They just wanted it more,” said
OSU forward Philip Ricci, who led
the Beavers with 20 points. “They
really dominate at home.”
Oregon’s victory improved its
record to 14-0 at Mac Court, which
extended its best home record since
the Ducks went 16-0 in 1937-38.
In the second half, even with the
game reaching blowout status, the
Ducks continued to give the sold
out crowd of 9,087 something to
cheer about.
(according to Oregon State’s Philip
Ricci) and hard-fought, but hardly
close on the scoreboard,
“It’s a rivalry, but it’s not a bitter
rivalry at all,” Oregon head coach
Ernie Kent said. “It’s one that
maybe the fans put more into it
than we do, but they’re still impor
tant games for us to play, important
games for us to win.”
The basketball Civil War is a far
cry from the football version, which
has seen four bitter battles in the
past four years. It is different from
the women’s basketball version,
which had been lopsided in the
Ducks’ favor until this season,
when Oregon State won in Eugene
and Oregon needed overtime to
win at Gill Coliseum on Saturday.
Kent’s ninth win as a coach in
the series may have finally erased
the demons from his one loss,
when Oregon’s Terik Brown missed
a potential game-tying three-point
er in the dying seconds of a 48-45
loss in Corvallis in 1999. Kent has
won seven Civil Wars by an average
of 16 points since then.
Continuing the peacefulness of
the rivalry, Kent tried to analyze
why Oregon State has struggled in
recent years.
Coach McKay “is struggling now
because he’s still a new coach in one
of the toughest conferences in the
, The Beavers began the half by
closing the margin to 15, but that
would be the closest they would get
the rest of the way.
Oregon proceeded to take leads
of 60-32, 73-39 and reached 82-45
after an Anthony Lever three-point
er at the 6:35 mark, which repre
sented the largest lead of the game.
Oregon also outrebounded the
Beavers, 36-28, and committed
only nine turnovers to OSU’s 17.
“There was some concern about
our team bouncing back from two
tough losses last week, but we
played at a very high intensity level
tonight,” Kent said.
The Ducks knew that this three
game homestand was critical in their
quest to win the Pac-10 tf&e. They
country,” Kent said. “It takes time .to
put the pieces together, to get that
continuity into your program.”
McKay himself also believes that
the Beavers will turn things around.
“I’m a believer that in order to
win a lot, you’ve got to win a little
bit,” McKay said.
For Oregon State, winning a little
bit means getting to the Pac-10
Tournament this season. The
Beavers are tentatively holding
onto the conference’s eighth and fi
nal tournament berth, with Wash
ington only a half-game behind.
Oregon State will face Washington
on Saturday in Corvallis.
The Ducks, meanwhile, are at the
opposite end of the spectrum, hop
ing that home wins over the Wash
ington schools can propel them
into sole possession of first place in
the conference, which they now
share with Stanford and Southern
California.
If the two Oregon schools can
hang on to their positions over the
season’s final weeks, it could mean
a rematch in the conference tourna
ment in Los Angeles.
It would just be another install
ment of the men’s basketball “Civil
Peace.”
E-mail sports reporter Peter Hockaday
atpeterhockaday@dailyemerald.com.
were given time to rest earlier in the
week after losing two heartbreaking
overtime games in the Bay Area.
So after a refreshed Oregon team
took care of the Beavers, it now turns
its attention to the cellar-dwelling
Washington schools this week in the
season’s final games at the Pit.
Should the Ducks win those,
they’d be no worse than tied for
first heading into a two-game road
trip to Los Angeles in the final
weekend of the regular season.
“We’re in control of our destiny,”
Ridnour said. “We just need to keep
winning, especially at home. Our
No. 1 goal is to win the Pac-10, and
we believe we can do it.”
E-mail assistant sports editor Jeff Smith
at jeffsmith@dailyemerald.com.
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mtm
Thomas Patterson Emerald
Oregon’s Luke Jackson (33) scored 19 points Saturday in a 29-point blowout Civil War
victory that continued the trend of the Ducks beating up on the Beavers.
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