Sports Editor:
Hank Hager
hank hager@dailyemerald.com
FEB 1 6 2004 M
Monday, February F5, 2004
Oregon Daily Emerald
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Tourney hopes
still alive after
overtime win
Oregon wins in its first overtime game
of the season and keeps its NCAA Tournament
hopes alive; the Ducks play Arizona on Thursday
By Jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter
In Oregon's first overtime game of the season, the Ducks
scrambled to a win after blowing an 18-point second-half lead
to keep their hopes alive for an NCAA Tournament bid.
After shooting 17 percent in the first
half, Washington State crawled back in
the second half to force overtime, where
the Ducks won 67-62 off solid ffee
throw shooting in the clutch.
Forward Ian Crosswhite scored a ca
reer-high 23 points and five rebounds
for the Ducks, but fouled out of the game with 2:35 remaining
in overtime.
MEN'S
BASKETBALL
Crosswhite scored nine of Oregon's first 14 points in the game
and dominated in the low post. He was slowed in the second
half after Washington State head coach Dick Bennett made the
adjustment to double-team Crosswhite whenever he touched
the ball.
"Ian Crosswhite was just a man tonight down in that low
block," Oregon head coach Ernie Kent told KUGN (590 AM) Ra
dio after the game.
Oregon finished the game shooting 44.9 percent from the
floor after shooting 8 of 24 in the second half.
Leading 31-14 at halftime, Oregon let an 18-point lead slip
away in the second half. Crosswhite was slowed after scoring
14 points and shooting a perfect 6 for 6 from the field in the
first half. He didn't miss his first shot until 7:05 was left in the
second half.
Washington State didn't play its typical slow offense in the sec
ond half, knowing it had a huge deficit to overcome. After four
minutes of play, the Cougars had hit three three-pointers and cut
the lead to 34-25.
Senior James Davis snuggled in the game, missing five three
pointers in the second half. Oregon (12-7 overall, 7-5 Pac-10)
shot just 3 for 15 from the three-point line.
By the eight-minute mark, the Cougars had cut the lead to five
points. Guards Marcus Moore, Thomas Kelati and Randy Green
led the way with 12 points each for the Cougars.
With a little more than a minute left, Moore hit a big three
pointer to tie the game at 51. It was the Cougar's first tie since the
game was knotted at 12.
'The encouraging thing or the positive thing that I continue
to look at is we're doing something right to get the lead before
we lose the lead," Kent said.
But in overtime, Oregon was the better team and played like it
did in the first half. Even with Crosswhite fouling out, Oregon
managed 14 points to Washington State's nine in extra minutes.
The Cougars had the lead after center Justin Bellegarde hit a
free-throw to start but Oregon led the rest of the way.
Guard Andre J oseph had five of his 13 points in overtime and
hit clutch shots throughout the game when they were needed.
The game was tied at 60 with 1:09 left, but Oregon finished
shooting 6 of 7 from the free-throw line to get the win. Ore
gon was 20 of 26, shooting 76.9 percent from the foul line on
the game.
'This game helped us to be able to regain our composure and
win in overtime," Kent said. The bottom line is when we needed
to dig in we did it (and) we kept our composure."
Oregon finished the night on 22 of 49 shooting and winning
the rebound margin 37 to 33. The Ducks were a mere 20 percent
from beyond the arc after shooting 0 for 10 in the second half.
Senior Luke Jackson finished with 16 points after earning
just four in the first half that all came off free throws. Guard
Brandon Lincoln finished the game with nine points, two as
sists and two rebounds.
"Brandon hit some tough buckets in this game," Kent said.
"He did a great job defensively. I thought it was a big break
through game for him."
Oregon now sits in a tie for third place in the conference with
Cal — Stanford leads at 12-0 and Arizona sits at 8-5. The Ducks
will face Arizona on Thursday back at McArthur Court and have
the chance to move into second place in conference play.
Oregon is just trying to keep its NCAA Tournament hopes
alive for the third straight year. The Ducks' win against Washing
ton State was crucial in that fight
Contact the sports reporter
at jessethomas@dailyemeraid.com.
trm msnon Photographer
Corrie Mizusawa played only 15 minutes against Washington Saturday because of a left-knee injury.
Guard's
big game
bolsters
Huskies
Washington received a strong
second-half performance
from Giuliana Mendiola
to defeat Oregon by 11 in Eugene «•
By Jon Roetman
Sports Reporter
Giuliana Mendiola showed Oregon on
Saturday why she was named Pacific-10
Conference Player
of the Year last sea
son.
The Washington
senior scored 18 of
the team's final 23
points — including
13 sUaight — in leading the I luskies to a
67-56 win over Oregon in front of 4,254
at McArthur Court.
Turn to GUARD, page 9
WOMEN’S
BASKETBALL
Duck women grab big win against Cats
The women’s tennis team
defeats Arizona to stay
undefeated, while Boise State
gives the men their first loss
By Alex Tam
Freelance Reporter
One winning streak continued and an
other one snapped over the weekend for
the Oregon tennis
teams.
The women
knocked off their
second top-35
team in three days
J4 Arizona, 6-1, on
Saturday — their eighth straight win of the
dual-match season.
The Ducks (8-0 overall, 2-0 Pacific-10
Conference) have already equaled last
year's total conference wins and are now
OUCK
TENNIS
whpn thpv hpat Nn
believing they may be a part of some
thing special.
"I think it's great to follow up the big
win (against No. 18 Arizona State) the
other day" Oregon head coach Nils Schyl
lander said. "Now we know we're for real."
I lowever, the women are not caught up
in admiring their undefeated record; all of
their wins have occurred at home, and
their first road game is this Friday
"We take it one match at a time," Schyl
lander said. "From there on out, every
match is huge. We just need to worry
about ourselves."
The recurring theme of good doubles
play translating into strong singles efforts
carried on as the Ducks swept all three
doubles matches to earn the first point of
the match. Oregon's doubles improved to
a dominating 21-3 record for the season.
Sophomore Anna Leksinska sealed the
win at the No. 6 position when she came
back in her singles match after losing the
first set. She dominated Wildcats sopho
more Iza Ferreira in the third set to win,
3-6, 6-3, 6-0. Leksinska said things
turned around when assistant coach
Kathy Sell told her to just play her game
and play smart.
"1 woke up (in the second set)," leksins
ka said. "I have to credit my win as usual
to tire great coaching."
In another notable match-up, freshman
Dominika Dieskova took her singles
record to 7-1 when she defeated 28th
ranked Dianne 1 lollands 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
I lollands grew frustrated as the match pro
gressed, and after the loss she threw her
racket into the net in disgust.
"I just stepped up and put pressure on
her," Dieskova said. "(I lollands) played re
ally well. I was smart in the end."
The women will continue action as they
embark on their first road trip of the sea
son. They face Washington State on Friday
Turn to BIG, page 8
Ducks lose last home match to Beavers
Oregon drops its second dual
match of the season against
rival Oregon State, this time
at home in McArthur Court
By Scott Archer
Oregon was hoping its second dual
match against in-state rival Oregon State
would go better than the first.
and if it wasn't for the match being held
at McArthur Court, it wasn't easy to tell
who was the home team and who was
n't. Beaver fans were often more boister
ous, even standing and chanting in uni
son after one of the matches.
Oregon State opened the match with a
five-point victory over 184-pound
Freelance Reporter
It didn't.
DUCK
WRESTLING
The Ducks (1
12 overall, 0-7 Pa
cific-10 Confer
ence) wrestled in
front of 931 fans,
Dustin Fisher. Fisher, like Jake Leair and
Jason Harless, was closing out his
wrestling career at Mac Court but didn't
have the success that Leair found imme
diately after Fisher's match.
Leair, wrestling in the 197-pound divi
sion, faced Curt Willener. Despite both
teams meeting twice annually, Leair and
Willener have never wrestled against
each other before.
"I had to feel him out a little bit," Leair
said. "1 really wanted to pin him."
Leair did just that. After building an 8
1 lead, Leair was able to pin his man,
closing out his last match at Mac Court
in impressive fashion, but more impor
tantly earning six points for the Ducks.
"Nothing could feel better," Leair said.
"Leair has had his ups and downs this
season," Oregon head coach Chuck
Kearney said. "(But) to end it pinning a
Beaver, that's not bad."
Oregon also received a strong per
formance from Jason Harless, who end
ed his wrestling career at Mac Court, with
a victory over Bobby Pfennings. Harless'
win put the Ducks only three points
back, 12-9, with four matches left.
But the meet began to unravel when
the Ducks had to use Johnny Lugo at the
141-pound class. Lugo, who typically
wrestles in the 133-pound class, was out
sized against Kyle Larson. Lugo was
pinned, beginning a stretch where Ore
gon State scored 12 straight points.
Oregon had to forfeit the 149-pound
class, giving the Beavers five free points.
The Ducks were put in a tough situation
the rest of the afternoon trying to play catch
up with only three matches remaining.
Joey Bracamonte rounded out the
Ducks scoring, when he defeated Brian
Duhrkroop 14-7.
With only two matches remaining the
Ducks were facing a 12-point deficit at
24-12. The Beavers went on to win the
match 30-12.
"Oregon State wrestled tough," Rear- "
ney said. "They are quietly having a real
good season.
"We need to continue to get better. We
Turn to BIG, page 10