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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (March 29, 2004)
Sports Editor: Hank Hager hank hager@dailyemerald.com Monday, March 29, 2004 Oregon Daily Emerald SPORTS Online Exclusive: See how the Oregon men's and women's tennis teams did during spring break only at www.dailyemerald.com Hank Hager Behind the dish Pit Crew rightfully shows its softer side Two games in a six day span. Games against two non-traditional rivals — Colorado and George Mason — that play in the Big 12 Conference and Colonial Athletic Assodation, respectively. Two crowds that shook every beam and every fabric of McArthur Court. And that was with finals week and spring break in full force. In fact, the 7,000-plus in attendance was as impressive as Luke Jackson's 29 straight points during Oregon's comeback win over Colorado. The scoreboard was shak ing, press row was rocking (a first, accord ing to many members of the media) and the 78-year-old building was living up to its image. Six days later, Oregon's 68-54 win over George Mason was sold out, and the fans who attended made it clear how much they loved what the Ducks were doing. Turn to HAGER, page 13 Adam Amato Senior Photographer Luke Jackson played his final game at McArthur Court in a win over George Mason. Three wins down, on to New York Oregon rolls to three victories in an eight-day span to advance to the semifinals of the NIT By Hank Hager Sports Editor Luke Jackson scored 29 straight points and 31 of Oregon's last 33 in a win over Colorado. Andre Joseph scored a career high 22 points against George Mason as the - Ducks rolled past the Patriots. As a team, the Ducks held Notre Dame to 61 points in a win over the MEN'S BASKETBALL Fighting Irish. What does that all add up to? A trip to New York for Oregon (18-12 overall) for a chance at the 2004 National Invitation Tournament championship. The Ducks' came from behind to defeat the Buffaloes, 77-72, dominated the Patriots, 68-54, and outlasted Notre Dame, 65-61, to get on a roll. "Especially with Aaron (Brooks) com ing back and getting into a better rhythm with the team, we're playing better defense," Jackson said. "It kind of seems, especially after the Stanford game, we're a little bit battle-tested and guys believed what we're able to do if we just defend guys. "I feel good about the way we're playing right now." The Ducks can feel good about them selves because of an 18-point comeback against the Buffaloes. Oregon found itself down by 15 at halftime and in an almost assured one-and-done position. Not so, Jackson said. He catapulted the Ducks back from the brink, scoring 14 of the team's 16 overtime points. Before that, he had scored Oregon's last 17 points of regulation, including a leaning three pointer with 20 seconds to play to send the game into overtime. The Creswell native ended the game with 40 points, two shy of a career best. "Forty points is an amazing number to hit," Colorado center David Harrison said after the game. "When he came down and Turn to BASKETBALL, page 11 Tenacious competitors lead Ducks Oregon finds success in Tucson as a trio of Duck decathletes post personal bests during break By Jon Roetman Sports Reporter The performance of three Duck decath letes highlighted a successful spring break for the Oregon men's track and field team. points March 23 and 24 at the Mike May WIEN’S TRACK Andy Young, Gabriel LeMay and Ryan Voge eOach finished in the top six and eclipsed the NCAA provisional standard of 7,000 nard Wildcat Combined Events in Tucson, Anz. The event marked the season opener for the trio, with each finishing among the top four collegians. Young, a redshirt sophomore, led all collegiate athletes and finished third over all with 7,179 points. He finished with sec ond-day marks of 15.23 seconds in the 110 hurdles, 121 feet-5 inches in the discus, 15 7 in the pole vault, 170-2 in the javelin and 4:22.73 in the 1,500 meters. Young's second-day total of 3,669 points was a personal best for the Newberg native. His first-day total of 3,510 was also a personal best, including marks of 11.70 in the 100, 22-0.25 in the long jump, 34 8.25 in the shot put, 6-3.5 in the high jump and 50.27 in the 400. Voge, a redshirt sophomore, finished sixth overall with 7,054 points, topping his former personal best by 606 points. The Hillsdale native's previous best of 6,448 came during the 2003 Mountain West Championships when he competed for New Mexico. Voge's second-day performance includ ed marks of 16.00 in the 110 hurdles, 95-4 in the discus, 14-11 in the pole vault, 160-7 in the javelin and 4:42.56 in the 1,500. His second-day total of 3,191 was nearly 300 points better than his previous sec ond-round best of2,894 points during last year's California Invite. LeMay, a redshirt senior, finished fourth overall with 7,175 points and Turn to TRACK, page 12 Oregon hurler throws no-no Ani Nyhus threw a no-hitter Saturday against Utah State, striking out a school-record 16 batters for Oregon’s 25th win of the season By Mindi Rice Senior Sports Reporter DUCK SOFTBALL Oregon pitcher Ani Nyhus had the keys to stop the bleeding at Howe Field this weekend. Nyhus scripted the team's storyline — she pitched in all three of Oregon's games and picked up two dramatic wins, including a come from-behind victory to open Pacific-10 Conference play, and setting a strikeout record while throwing a no-hitter ~~ against Utah State. The weekend closed with Nyhus' no-hitter, a 2-0 victory against the Aggies in the second game of a doubleheader on Saturday. It was a close call in the seventh, however, when Aggie batter Casey Smith hit a shot to Oregon second baseman Erin Goodell. Goodell bobbled the ball slightly in her attempt to throw it to first baseman Kristi Leiter, but Smith was safe at first when the ball got to Leiter. The decision was made to call the play an error on Goodell, preserving Nyhus' no-hit per formance. 'The no-hitter was more on my mind than the strikeouts," Ny hus said. "It was early on in the game that I started looking at the scoreboard, but in the seventh I didn't think about it as much." Nyhus also struck out a career-high and Oregon single game record 16 batters, including striking out the side in the first and second. The old record, 15 strikeouts by Rachelle Tay lor, was set in 1994. In the bottom of the first, third baseman Dani Baird scored on a single by Kayleen Hudson to give the Ducks a 1-0 lead. Oregon padded its lead in the fourth with another run. It was all the Ducks needed to hold on for the 2-0 victory behind Ny hus' stellar game. Turn to SOFTBALL, page 12 9 Ani Nyhus threw a nohitter in Oregon’s 2-0 win against Utah State.
