Ducks don’t let up in win over Portland
Still tasting a loss at Portland
last year,Oregon wins its 20th
straight game at home
Men’s basketball
Adam Jude
Senior Sports Reporter
After relinquishing the throne for
a year, the Ducks brought the state
championship trophy back to Eu
gene on Wednesday night.
In short, there was no shocker
this year.
The Oregon men’s basketball team
wasn’t about to relive last season’s 79
78 loss at Portland, especially at
McArthur Court. And the Ducks did
n’t have to Wednesday night.
“Them beating us last year left a re
ally sour taste in our mouth, and they
rubbed it in our face a bit,” Oregon
forward Luke Jackson said. “This year
it was nice to set the record straight
that we’re the better team.”
The No. 7 Ducks (No. 6 in coach
es’ poll) jumped on the Pilots (3-1)
early and never looked back in a 96
66 rout before a crowd of 8,378. Ore
gon (4-0), which plays No. 14 Kansas
in Portland on Saturday, now has 20
straight wins at home, three short of
the school record.
“Tonight we were outplayed and
outcoached by the No. 6 team in
the country,” Portland head coach
Michael Holton said. “It was an up
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hill battle from the opening tip for
us. It quickly became the anatomy
of a blowout.”
Jackson, who had 28 points and
10 rebounds against Portland last
year, hit 8-of-10 shots Wednesday to
lead the Ducks with 21 points and 12
rebounds. Luke Ridnour added 17
points and five assists.
The teams combined to commit
47 fouls and to take 56 free throws
(Oregon was 25-of-33 from the char
ity stripe). Oregon’s Robert Johnson
and Matt Short fouled out, as did
Casey Frandsen for Portland.
“They put it on us up there last
year, and we’re going to go hard at
each other each time,” said Oregon
center Ian Crosswhite, who made
his first career start for the injured
Brian Helquist and posted 16 points
and seven rebounds.
Frandsen, Portland’s leading
scorer, was held to six points on 3
of-15 shooting. Guard Adam Quick,
who put up 20 points in the win
over the Ducks last year, had just
two points (0-for-l from the field)
and five turnovers.
“We’re not going to let up on any
body,” Johnson said.
“They completely dismantled any
chance we had from the opening tip,”
Holton said. “We were all out of sync
offensively as a result of their defense.
“They don’t have any weaknesses.”
Holton said Oregon’s defense was
the difference this season. The
Ducks had 15 steals, part of Port
land’s 22 turnovers. Portland shot
just .339 from the field.
"This year it was nice
to set the record
straight that we're
the better team."
Luke Jackson
Oregon forward
“I thought we did an outstanding
job offensively,” Oregon head coach
Ernie Kent said.
Perhaps more importantly, Ore
gon outrebounded the Pilots 45-29,
something the Ducks struggled with
in their first three games.
“The coaches were stressing re
bounding hard,” said Johnson, who
had 10 points and seven boards.
“We went very hard today. We
wanted it more.”
And the more the rebounds come,
the easier it is for the Ducks to get
into their fast-break offense.
“We had great intensity from the
beginning,” Jackson said. “We feel
like if we could come out with high
intensity that we can control the
tempo and be able to beat teams.”
And bring home state bragging
rights.
Contact the senior sports reporter at
adamjude@dailyemerald.com.
Overstake drops
one weight class
Redshirt senior Tony Overstake
has already had success at the
lower weight class this season
Wrestling notes
Mindi Rice
Freelance Sports Reporter
Redshirt senior Tony Overstake
has lost a little weight.
Not too much weight, though,
only the eight pounds needed to
make the jump down from the 157
weight class to 149.
Overstake has made two consec
utive appearances in the NCAA
Tournament at 157, qualifying as
the Pacific-10 Conference champi
on last season.
“He wants to go to the weight class
he needs to be at to be an All-Ameri
can,” said head coach Chuck Kearney.
Overstake, from Central Point, did
not compete in the team’s first tour
nament of the season, the Nov. 23
Body Bar Invitational.
Saturday, he made his debut at
149 and finished sixth in his weight
class. He was ranked 10th in the na
tion at 149 before having wrestled at
that weight.
Last year, Overstake won the Pac
10 title at 157. He won one match and
lost two at the national meet, finishing
the season with a 25-9 record.
In his sophomore season, Over
stake finished fourth in the Pac-10,
with an 18-16 overall record. He
qualified for the NCAA tournament,
but went 0-2 with a knee injury.
Overstake is an integral part of
the wrestling team. Kearney calls
Overstake part of the squad’s “core
leadership” this year, working with
seniors Casey Hunt and Eric Webb
to lead the Ducks.
“As a fifth-year senior, he’s one of
our true leaders,” Kearney said.
“He’s coming off a Pac-10 Champi
onship. He’s setting his sights and
not just achieving at that level, but
achieving at the national level.”
In last spring’s award banquet,
Overstake earned the Dave Abraham
Award, which “honors a student ath
lete that demonstrates a true passion
for the sport of wrestling.”
Overstake will help fill the leader
ship role held last season by Eugene
Harris, who graduated last year after
finishing fourth at the NCAA Cham
pionships and earning an All-Ameri
can honor.
Injury update
Shane Webster, a sophomore in
the 174 weight class, competed in
the first two matches of the Body Bar
Invitational before pulling out be
cause of a minor injury. He came
back to win his weight class in the
Mat-Town USA meet one week later.
Senior heavyweight Webb, who
suffered a slight injury in the first
tournament of the season, sat out
Saturday’s matches.
"He wants to go to the
weight class he needs
to be at to be an
All-American"
Chuck Kearney
Oregon head coach
Experience and desire
After losing three seniors, the
Ducks are missing a few key scorers,
but still retunf 18 members of last
year’s squad.
“We’ve got people able to step in
behind them,” Kearney said.
Five of the returning 18 members
have experience at last year’s NCAA
Championship meet. Overstake
made it past the first day of last
year’s tournament, while junior Ja
son Harless, Hunt, Webster and
Webb all made an appearance at the
meet, but did not make it past the
first day of competition.
Kearney said this year’s squad has
a “burning desire to be successful,”
and thinks all the returning experi
ence will be beneficial to the team.
The Ducks open their home sea
son Dec. 13 against Oregon State
and Dec. 14 against Nebraska at
McArthur Court.
Mindi Rice is a freelance writer
forthp Emerald.