Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dailyemeraId.com
Friday, March 14,2003
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Sports
Best bet
Pac-10 Tou rnament:
Oregon vs. UCLA
6:15 p.m., Fox Sports
Ridnour bursts doubt of NCAA berth
The guards lay-up with 3.3
seconds left sinks Arizona State
and secures the Ducks a spot in
next week’s NCAA Tournament
Men’s basketball
Adam Jude
Senior Sports Reporter
The needle that the Oregon men’s
basketball team wanted so badly in
the past week finally showed its face
Thursday. In dramatic fashion, the
Ducks used it to burst an enclosing
bubble that was shadowing their
NCAA Tournament hopes.
Luke Ridnour provided the final
“pop” as he needled through the Ari
zona State defense and hit a driving
lay-in over Tommy Smith with 3.3
seconds left to give Oregon an 83-82
victory in the first round of the Pacif
ic-10 Conference Tournament at the
Staples Center in Los Angeles.
“That’s just an awesome win for us,”
Ridnour told KUGN-radio. “It puts us
over the (NCAA) hump, and we can
just go play now and have fun.”
The Ducks (21-9 overall) play
eighth-seeded UCLA at 6:15 p.m. to
day for a spot in Saturday’s title
game. UCLA (10-18) shocked No. 1
Arizona in the first game of the tour
nament Thursday.
Now seemingly assured a spot in the
Big Dance, the Ducks will find out
their NCAA destination Sunday, but
they would guarantee themselves a
berth by winning the conference tour
nament title.
“I hope for all those people that said
Oregon needed to win one (to get in
the NCAA Tournament), they turn
around and say we’re in so we can get
some positive energy going our way,”
head coach Ernie Kent said. Ridnour
and the Ducks certainly had the posi
tive vibes in the final seconds. But Ari
zona State (19-11) was feeling pretty
good, too, with the game on the line.
Robert Johnson swished in a pair of
free throws with 35 seconds left to
give the Ducks a 79-74 lead, but Ari
zona State’s unstoppable freshman,
Ike Diogu, answered with a bucket.
Diogu scored seven points in the final
1:23, and had 27 points and 18 re
bounds in the game.
James Davis followed with two
free throws, pushing the lead back
to five. Then the Sun Devils took
charge, scoring six points in less
than three seconds.
After missing on his first try, Curtis
Millage hit a three-pointer, and after
an Oregon turnover on the inbounds
play, Diogu was wide open under the
hoop during ASlTs inbounds posses
sion. He got the ball, the bucket, the
foul on Andre Joseph and the free
throw to give the Sun Devils an 82-81
lead with 12.1 ticks left.
“When you look at all the drama
that went on in the last minute of the
game, there were a lot of mistakes by
us, mistakes by them and mistakes by
officials,” Kent said. “We were fortu
nate to get it done, but, in my opinion,
it should’ve never come down to that.”
After Diogu’s free throw, the Ducks
didn’t have any timeouts remaining.
They huddled quickly to set up a
high-screen play, which Luke Jack
son set for Ridnour at the top of the
key. Ridnour did the rest, and sent
the Devils packing.
“To have the lead like that go away,
to be all of a sudden down one with 12
seconds to go, you gotta give a lot of
credit to our team,” said Ridnour, the
Pac-10 Player of the Year. “That’s a lot
Turn to Men's, page 8
Adam Amato Emerald
Luke Ridnour hit a dutch lay-up with 3.3 seconds left to send Oregon into the second round of the Pac-10 tourney.
Bruins lead low-seed party on Pac-lO’s first day
UCLA shocks top-seeded and
top-ranked Arizona in the first
game of the Pac-10 Tournament
Peter Hockaday
Sports Editor
Lute Olson says he doesn’t care about the
Pacific-10 Conference Tournament.
But when his top-ranked Wildcats lost to
Steve Lavin’s UCLA Bruins in the tourney open
er, it might’ve gotten a lot more fans to care.
UCLA’s Ray Young hit a high, arching three
pointer with less than five seconds left in regu
lation to send the game into overtime, which
the Bruins dominated to shock No. 1 Arizona,
96-89. UCLA, which only got into the Pac-10
Tournament with a win over Washington on
Saturday, provided the biggest shock of the
tournament’s opening day.
UCLA, often accused this season of being a
team that doesn’t care, obviously cared about
Thursday’s game. Senior Jason Kapono, who
finished the game with 26 points, sang
“Stayin’ Alive” to the Fox Sports Net cameras
in his postgame interview.
“Our team has been through a lot this sea
son,” Kapono told the television station.
That’s an understatement. UCLA struggled
to nine regular-season wins, faced criticism
all year and rumors that head coach Steve
Lavin would be fired at the end of the season.
But the Bruins have now won five of their last
seven, including three in a row.
“We’re a different team this past month,”
Lavin said. “We’re definitely playing our best
basketball at the end of the year.”
That was evident when the Bruins faced
the Wildcats on Thursday. UCLA jumped out
to an early lead, leading by as many as seven
points with 12 minutes gone in the game. But
Arizona stormed back and took the lead on a
Luke Walton lay-in with 1:43 left in the first
half. Arizona dominated the start of the
Turn to Pac-10, page 9
Emerald
Kirsten Riley is one of three women's pole vaulters heading to the NCAA Indoor meet.
Track heads to indoor finale
Oregon sends five athletes to the NCAA
Indoor Championships, including three
veterans who went to the meet last year
Track and field
Jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter
The Oregon men’s and women’s track and field
teams will send a quintet of athletes to Fayetteville,
Ark., for the weekend.
The Ducks accepted five invitations to the NCAA
Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Ran
dal Tyson Track Center.
Seniors Adam Kriz and Samie Parker will repre
sent the men’s team in the weight throw and 60-me
ter dash, respectively. Redshirt seniors Becky Holli
day and Niki McEwen will also travel to the two-day
meet to compete in the women’s pole vault, along
with junior Kirsten Riley.
Kriz enters the competition ranked 15th nation
ally with a season best of 67 feet, 7 inches in the 35
pound weight throw. The Toledo native will make
his NCAA indoor debut, and is ranked second of the
Pacific-10 Conference entries.
“It’s a compliment to be invited,” Kriz said. “I’m
going to go out and try to have fun and see where I
stack up. I have nothing to lose.”
Parker will be on familiar ground as he returns to
the championship meet. The Long Beach, Calif., na
tive claimed Oregon’s first indoor All-American
sprint honor last year in the 60-meter dash.
Parker ran 6.66 seconds in taking fourth last year,
and has clocked a time as fast as 6.71 this season.
He currently stands in a two-way tie for 13th na
tionally and is the only conference qualifier.
Holliday and McEwen will rival for the top spot in
the pole vault as the two Duck seniors rank second
and third on the national list, respectively. Holliday
Turn to Track, page 9