Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dcdlyemercild.com
Friday, February 28,2003
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Sports
Best bet
NCAA men's basketball:
Arizona at Stanford
4 p.m. Saturday, ABC
Love fest at The Pit turns into UO win
Adam Amato Emerald
Fans show their love for Henry Bibby with signs and masks as he walks onto the court for the first time Thursday.
The Ducks pay back USC with a
13-point win and pay back coach
Henry Bibby with some ‘affection’
Men’s basketball
Peter Hockaday
Sports Editor
Valentine’s Day was 14 days ago, but
there was a whole lotta love at
McArthur Court on Thursday night.
There was love for USC head coach
Henry Bibby (one sign asked Bibby
“Will you marry me?”), love for Luke
Ridnour (fans chanted “One more
year” at the possible NBA draftee) and,
finally, love for the Ducks as a team. In
a rousing effort, Oregon toppled USC
79-66 in front of a sold-out Mac Court
crowd. The win gave Oregon 19 victo
ries on the season, and took the Ducks
one step closer to the March Madness
golden number of 20.
And they couldn’t have done with
out the love of the fans.
“It was awesome out there,” Rid
nour said with a smile after the game.
“The fans just gave us that extra boost
to get going.”
That boost came late in the first half,
after Oregon went down early to a USC
squad that came out firing. Trojan jun
ior Desmon Farmer connected on four
straight three-pointers to start the
game, and USC played aggressive de
fense on Oregon to keep the lead
throughout the first 14 minutes.
But with 5:58 left and the score 39
27, Luke Jackson hit a lay-up to cut
the Trojan lead to 10. Robert Johnson
added a put-back lay-in on a miss. On
the next possession, Ridnour led a fast
break and found Jackson, who threw
down a thunderous dunk to bring the
crowd to its feet for the first time in
a while.
“That’s the kind of basketball I love
to play,” Jackson said. “Physical, up
and down the floor, and shooting a lot
of shots.”
Soon after Jackson’s dunk, Ridnour
led another fast break, but this time
the junior guard pulled up and hit a
three-pointer to tie the score at 42.
Ridnour was visibly pumped as he ran
back on defense, and the Pit Grew
broke into the “One more year” chant.
“We gotta show emotion, get every
one going, because we need these
games more than anything,” Ridnour
said. “If it’s yelling after you hit the
shot, whatever it is, we just need to get
the team going to get it done.”
That run was enough to give Oregon
the momentum and, eventually, the
game. The teams battled early in the
second half, and USC held leads at 56
54 and 58-56, but the Ducks used an
other emotional run like the one in the
first half to put the Trojans away mid
way through the second frame.
Ridnour led all scorers with 23
points and Jackson followed with 22.
Oregon’s two seniors played well —
Robert Johnson had 12 points and sev
en rebounds while Brian Helquist
added six boards — and the Ducks ad
equately made up for the absence of
suspended guard Andre Joseph.
Ridnour matched USG’s physical
game play with his own brand of
tough-guy basketball, hitting the floor
often for loose balls and flying through
Trojan double-teams.
“He’s be the first guy in the cold
whirlpool tonight,” head coach Ernie
Kent said.
Ridnour set the tone with only three
turnovers in the game. The Ducks,
who committed 26 turnovers in their
91-76 loss at USC on Feb. 2, had only
11 Thursday.
But, with the end of the season and
the NCAA Tournament looming, the
most important statistic for Oregon on
Thursday night was the little “x” in the
win column.
“It was just a tremendous victory,”
Jackson said.
The Ducks moved into a tie for
fourth in the Pac-10 with Arizona
Turn to Men's, page 14
Major Overstake
Senior Tony Overstake leads the Oregon wrestling
squad into Sunday's Pac-10 tournament with a record
of 18-8 this season, including eight major decisions
Wrestling
Mindi Rice
Freelance Sports Reporter
As the first wrestler Oregon head coach Chuck Kearney re
cruited, Tony Overstake was the beginning of Oregon’s bright
wrestling future.
Kearney knew Overstake was the kind of wrestler he wanted in
the program, and Overstake knew Oregon had a lot to offer.
“He’s been the heart and soul of what we’ve been trying to do
here,” Kearney said.
Overstake, now a redshirt senior, leads the Ducks into the
Paeific-10 Conference Tournament, which begins Sunday.
“He’s a success story,” Kearney said. “Each year he has
worked real hard and made big gains.”
Overstake began his final collegiate dual meet season with
the dual resting on his match. The meet against Oregon State
was tied at 15, after the Ducks came back from a 12-point
deficit to tie the Beavers.
“I was pretty confident he could pull out the win,” Kearney
said that night.
Overstake’s match went like the meet — he was down early,
came back, and finally dominated. Overstake won the 149
match 9-3, giving the Ducks the 18-15 victory in front of a
home crowd of 939.
“It was exciting (being the deciding match),” Overstake said
that night. “The pressure’s on me to get the job done.”
Turn to Wrestling, page 13
Jeremy Forrest Emerald
Tony Overstake (left) has Oregon's best record heading into Pac-10s.
Oregon’s victory
over USC clouds
Pac-10 picture
The women beat USC, making Saturday^ game against
UCLA much more important for postseason posturing
Women’s basketball
Hank Hager
Sports Reporter
What a wild and wacky season it has become for the Oregon
women’s basketball team.
And with just one game left in the Pacific-10 Conference sea
son, it seems to be at just the tip of the iceberg.
The Ducks got 19 points from junior Cathrine Kraayeveld to
narrowly defeat USC, 75-70, in front of a paltry 547 fans Thurs
day at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.
The win gives Oregon four in its last five games, but more im
portantly, pushes the Ducks into a fifth-place tie with Oregon
State. The Beavers were 81-72 losers to UCLA on Thursday.
“It’s a tremendous victory,” Oregon head coach Bev Smith told
KSCR-AM. “We had a good game plan, and our players stuck to it.”
As mentioned, the Oregon win now muddles the middle of
the Pac-10.
The Ducks (12-14 overall, 8-9 Pac-10) stepped closer to at
least a sixth-place finish with the win, even though they are cur
rently tied for fifth. If Oregon and Oregon State both win or lose
Saturday — the Ducks against UCLA and the Beavers against
the Trojans — Oregon State would win the tiebreaker.
Turn to Women's, page 12