Wrestlers split matches in Golden State
Two seniors and a sophomore
win both matchups on
Wednesday, but a forfeit at 125
loses one dual for Oregon
Wrestling
Mindi Rice
Freelance Sports Reporter
The Ducks battled Road Run
ners and Mustangs on Wednesday,
splitting two matches against Pa
cific-10 Conference opponents.
Oregon (6-9 overall, 5-3 Pac-10)
began the day by ending its four
match dual meet losing streak with a
26-16 win over Cal State-Bakersfield.
Starting at the 133 weight class,
the Road Runners took their only
lead of the day when Matt Sanchez
earned a four-point major decision
over sophomore Jacob Boyles, 13-0.
Senior Casey Hunt put Oregon
ahead 6-4 after the 141 match. Hunt
pinned Road Runner Anthony Baza
at the 1:30 mark of the match — ex
actly halfway through the first peri
od. The pin is Hunt’s third at 141,
and fifth overall this season.
Tony Overstake followed his
senior classmate with a four-point
major decision over Roberto Var
gas at 149. After an early take
down by Vargas, Overstake con
trolled the match, winning 16-7.
Junior Branson Phillips earned his
second-straight victory at 157, with
a 4-3 win over his opponent. Sopho
more Luke Larwin lost a close 7-6
match to his 165 opponent.
With the Ducks up 13-7, No. 11
Shane Webster gave Oregon its
first 10-point lead with a four
point major decision. The sopho
more took out Matt Montiero, 19
7. Following at 184, freshman
Tony Rolen suffered a 5-1 defeat to
Road Runner Bryan Travers.
Oregon took the meet from Gal
State-Bakersfield when sophomore
Elias Soto had his second pin of
the season, and his first at 197.
Soto pinned Scott O’Rear at the
5:30 mark of the match after rack
ing up an 11-0 lead.
Freshman Neil Phillips scored
the Ducks’ last three points with a
2-1 win over Chad Trokler. The
two wrestlers finished 1-1, but
Phillips earned the winning point
with superior riding time. The de
cision marks Phillips’ fourth dual
meet win.
The Ducks forfeited the 125
weight class to end the match, while
earning the team victory 26-16.
Oregon hit the road after its win
against the Road Runners and
headed west to Gal Poly-San Luis
Obispo to battle the Mustangs.
Gal Poly (9-6, 5-1) started the
meet with a win at the 133 weight
class, but Oregon came back to
win four of the next five matches.
The Ducks could not hold on,
however, giving Gal Poly its fifth
conference victory.
Boyles lost the 133 match 12-5,
but Hunt put the Ducks ahead
with a four-point major decision
over Andy Kim. Hunt’s 17-6 win
was his first major decision in a
dual meet this season.
Overstake followed with a 6-4 de
cision over Matt Cox. Overstake won
both of his matches on Wednesday,
giving him a 16-7 record at 149 this
season. At 157, Branson Phillips lost
the decision 5-0.
Larwin came back from his earlier
defeat to win the 165 match, 4-1.
Webster ran over Mustang Brett
Schumann with a 24-6 win. Web
ster earned five points for the
Ducks with the technical fall with
near fall victory, scoring the near
fall at the 5:50 mark of the match.
The Ducks ran out of steam
starting with the 184 weight class.
Rolen lost a 12-6 decision, while
redshirt junior Jake Leair lost a
major decision at 197. Leair’s 16-4
loss was his first dual-meet
matchup since early January.
Neil Phillips lost 3-1 in the
heavyweight matchup. Oregon for
feited the 125 weight class for the
second time on the day, giving the
Mustangs a 22-15 conference win.
The Ducks will stay in California
to battle non-conference oppo
nents Menlo College and Fresno
State on Friday.
Mindi Rice is a freelance writer
for the Emerald.
Joseph
continued from page 9
But becoming a Duck was harder
than just signing a letter of intent
and moving to Eugene. It took
Joseph all summer and most of the
preseason to get adjusted to the
new system, a new environment
and a new team.
“They’re a family already,”
Joseph said of joining the Ducks.
“It’s like trying to adopt someone
into a family. It took them a long
time to accept me. They knew I
was behind three or four years, so
it just took a lot of games and a lot
of practices to get comfortable.”
Adjusting to his new academic
responsibilities, however, didn’t
take quite as long. In his first term
at the University, Joseph finished
with one of the highest GPAs on
the team. He’s on course to gradu
ate ahead of schedule with a soci
ology degree.
His secret to academic success?
“Just pay attention every day and
go to class; that’s half of it,” he said.
“And if you study, it’s even better.”
Now comfortable with his role
off the bench, Joseph has become
a consistent scorer for the Ducks,
averaging 11.3 points in Pacific-10
Conference games, and replacing
Andre Joseph file
Born: Tyronzic Andre Joseph on May 7, 1981
in Houston, Texas.
High School: Rated ! 07th*best high school
player in the nation coming out of Furr High
School in Houston. District MVP and All-State
selection while at Furr.
Before Oregon: Redshirted first year at
Stephen F. Austin before transferring to Lee
Junior College in Baytown, Texas. Was a two
year standount at Lee, averaging 223 points
per game his second season and was an All
Region selection. ' , ^‘ ••
Oregon: Played in all 20 games for the Ducks, starting four,
including the last three as Luke Jackson has been out with a finger
injury. Averaging 9.5 points per game overall and X1,3 points per
game in Pat-i 0 play. Fourth on the team in rebounding, with 3,5
boards per game. -
L J
some of Jones’ athleticism.
“Nobody can replace what Fred
die did, but Andre’s another great
athletic guard on this team,” Davis
said. “He definitely gives us a bit of
a lift off the bench.”
Though he admits he was nerv
ous about pleasing the Oregon
crowd in his first few games at Mac
Court, Joseph has settled down
and created quite a highlight reel
for himself at The Pit. It’s hard to
forget Joseph’s two blocks against
Arizona, when Jason Gardner ap
peared to have a couple of easy,
fast-break layins. And he created a
buzz with that assist-to-himself
dunk against Washington State.
How about that, huh?
Though he has started four
games this season — three when
Luke Jackson was injured —
Joseph’s role remains as Oregon’s
sixth man.
“I think the sign of a person
with good character is when they
can humble themselves for the
betterment of the team,” Oregon
head coach Ernie Kent said.
“Here’s a guy that could easily be
Mark McCambridge Emerald
Joseph has developed into Oregon's solid sixth man, averaging 95 points per game.
starting for us right now. But he’s
said, ‘Coach, whatever you want
me to do, I’ll do.’ I just think that
says a lot about his character.”
And a lot about how far Joseph’s
come since high school. All it took
was a good balancing act.
Contact the senior sports reporter
at adamjude@dailyemerald.com.
Women's
continued from page 9
at times, well offensively, against
Stanford here, there are some
things we can improve upon. I think
that will be our goal.”
How the Ducks deal with Maples
will be key. The structure seats
7,391 — the smallest in the Pae-10
— but has been a “house of hor
rors,” as Smith called it, for oppo
nents over the years, evidenced by
Stanford’s dominance.
“The mindset is just focus on
what you can. control, and you
can’t control the house of horrors,”
Smith said. “You can control how
you perform, your effort, your in
tensity and your togetherness. If
we focus on ourselves and what we
can do, then the other things will
take care of themselves.”
Since squeaking by Oregon, the
Cardinal have been a mixed bag, at
least by their standards.
Stanford (17-2, 9-1) defeated
Washington State, Washington and
UCLA — by just two, 80-78 — be
fore losing its first Pac-10 game
since the 2000-01 season. USG
played the Cardinal tough, jumping
out to a 49-35 halftime lead on Jan.
26, and held off the strong Stanford
offense for the win.
But to say the Cardinal are less of
a team is another statement.
“They’re sixth in the nation, and
you know, we’re not ranked, not
doing so well, so we just have to go
in there and play as hard as we
can,” senior Alissa Edwards said.
“We can play with them. We’ll take
that going into the game and have
that confidence.”
As for Oregon, the Ducks are
coming off a so-so weekend after
visits by Arizona State and Arizona.
The Ducks dominated from the
start against the Sun Devils and
came away with an impressive 68
52 victory.
But two days later, Oregon was
another team, starting off slow
against the Wildcats before improv
ing its play late in each half. Arizona
squeaked by with a 71-66 win, and
Oregon went to a tie for seventh in
the Pac-10 standings.
“I think we made progress,”
Smith said. “We certainly, defen
sively, were much better, limiting
Arizona to 71 (points) here when
they had 96 at their place. And the
same thing with Arizona State.
“So I think we’ve turned the cor
ner defensively, and that’s a big fo
cus for us for the rest of the year.”
The Ducks will need that defen
sive focus against the Cardinal, the
Pac-lO’s fourth-ranked team in
points per game at 71.6.
Contact the sports reporter
at hankhager@dailyemerald.com.
Recruits
continued from page 9
to attend Oregon in the spring, al
lowing him to join the Ducks earlier
than most high school recruits.
With the Oregon quarterback situa
>n in flux, it could allow him to
np into the mix for the starting
>, although it isn’t likely.
His chances of playing will be
ihanced by being here in the
jring,” Bellotti said.
At defensive back, Bellotti be
lieves the Ducks have made strides,
specifically with two junior college
standouts signed, as well as three
high school recruits, two of which
stand 5-foot-l 1-inches or higher.
But it is the one recruit under
that height that received most of
Bellotti’s attention Wednesday.
Ryan Gilliam, of Lincoln High
School in Tallahasse, Fla., is consid
ered one of the top 11 comerbacks
in the nation, according to ESPN.
Standing 5-foot-9-inches,
Gilliam is known mostly for his
quickness and explosion. His
brother, Mike, is currently a run
ning back at Georgia.
“We don’t usually recruit Florida,
but we took some shots there,” Bel
lotti said. “He fell in love with (Eu
t ,
gene). I would say (he is) a very
brave and courageous young man
who saw what he liked.”
Getting back to the offensive side
of the ball, Bellotti signed a group of
wide receivers that has no shortage
of height and size.
The group is led by Marcus
Maxwell, a junior college transfer
from Diablo Valley College in Cali
fornia. He averaged five receptions
per game last season en route to
earning a spot on the first-team all
Golden Gate Conference squad.
“He provides the big wide receiv
er we’ve been lacking,” Bellotti said.
Bellotti failed to sign a running
back and acknowledged the Ducks
had been recruiting between three
and five players at the position.
However, he said he is confident in
the ability of Oregon’s returners at
the position.
Two offensive linemen signed
with Oregon, but according to Bel
lotti, the Ducks did not have many
scholarships to give at the position
area because 13 scholarship players
return next season.
Of Oregon’s signees, four will at
tend school in the spring of this
year. In addition to DuRocher, the
list includes junior college corner
backs Marc Walker and controver
sial recruit Rodney Woods, as well
as high school wide receiver Jor
dan Carey.
Brandon Bair, a tight end and
defensive end from St. Anthony,
Idaho, may decide to go on a mis
sion, although that decision has
not been made.
It is still yet to be seen how much
of an impact the signings will make
on Oregon, but it is a class that of
fers opportunities.
“We’re going to put more size and
speed on the field,” Bellotti said.
Contact the sports reporter
at hankhager@dailyemerald.com.