Sports
Oregon Daily Emerald
Monday, November 21, 2005
“1 call him little spring. He’s so small but
he’s got so much energy. He gets it going,
gets energized, and he makes plays. ”
Oregon’s Justin Phinisee following fellow comerback Aaron Gipson’s
two interceptions Saturday during a 56-14 win over Oregon State
■ In my opinion
LUKE ANDREWS
EXCESSIVE CELEBRATION
Ducks do
their part,
now await
bowl fate
Comerback Aaron Gipson entered the media
room Saturday following a 56-14 rout of Oregon
State wearing a bright green shirt that may have
said it best: “I hate Beavers.”
Call it revenge. Call it redemption. Call it what
you will — there hasn’t been a sweeter win for
an Oregon team in a long while.
Especially when you consider the feeling last
season for many of these players walking off the
Reser Stadium turf after a demoralizing 50-21 loss
to the Beavers that kept the Ducks out of
post-season play.
When the hobbling Beavers entered Eugene
and Autzen Stadium on Saturday in need of a win
for bowl eligibility, it was payback time, particu
larly for Gipson, who was torched last season by
Oregon State’s Mike Hass (nine receptions,
154 yards, two touchdowns).
Gipson won the battle this time around, inter
cepting his sixth and seventh passes of the sea
son and returning one 60 yards for a touchdown
on the game’s opening possession.
“Last year I played him with a hurt ankle and
(Hass) kind of ran by us a couple times,” said Gip
son, who held Hass scoreless and under his per
game yards average. “I think I had more touch
downs than him today, so that’s a good thing. ”
OSU really never had a chance in this game.
With Kellen Clemens, the Ducks’ senior leader
turned assistant coach, speeding as fast as two
crutches can carry him down the Autzen Stadi
um tunnel and an appreciative crowd on its feet
during the introductions of 13 Oregon seniors, the
Ducks again took care of business for their
seventh straight victory.
Clemens’ injury is just one of the many mo
ments that have epitomized Oregon’s motto this
season: We’ve got your back.
The defense supports the offense and vice ver
sa. When one is down, the other makes a play.
Now Oregon is 10-1, and, behind the tandem
of sophomores Dennis Dixon and Brady Leaf, a
perfect 4-0 without Clemens.
It speaks volumes about a team when it can
lose a player of Clemens’ magnitude and still en
tertain hopes of a Bowl Championship Series’
bid, which brings me to my next point: What
business does Notre Dame, at 8-2, have being
ahead of Oregon in both major polls?
It figures that Ohio State, also with two losses,
would be in front of the Ducks considering the
Buckeyes have many recent quality wins and its
losses were to No. 2 Texas and No. 4 Penn State.
However, the Irish really have no right to be in
a BCS game, just as they had no right to be in the
2001 Fiesta Bowl when they received at an at
large bid and were spanked 41 -9 by Oregon State.
If Notre Dame can hold on in its final game at
Stanford next Saturday, odds are the Irish will
claim one of the available bids.
But the Ducks only did what they could on Sat
urday against the Beavers. They took care of busi
ness and sent a memo to the BCS voters in the
process. Whether the voters will receive that
memo is a different question.
landrews@dailyemerald. com
■ Men's basketball
Ducks sprint past Savannah State
Oregon's Chamberlain Oguchi and Ray Schafer
lead the way with 19 and 15 points, respectively
BY SHAWN MILLER
SPORTS EDITOR
Six-foot Oregon point guard
Aaron Brooks emphatically
dunked the ball with his left
hand, signaling the end for Sa
vannah State on Sunday night in
front of 8,267 at McArthur Court.
This occurred only one minute 36
seconds into the game.
“I know how energetic the
Pit Crew gets. They seem
to enjoy the dunks and
highlights and stuff. ”
Chamberlain Ocuchi | Oregon guard
The score put the Ducks up 9-0
after Ray Schafer scored the first
seven points of the game. Brooks’
bucket was nearly enough to
outscore Savannah State in the
first half. The Ducks (1-0) allowed
only 10 points in the opening 20
minutes of play and the fewest
points to a Division I opponent
since 1941 (15 vs. Utah), rocking
the Tigers (1-1) 83-23.
The 60-point victory was the
third-latest in school history.
A point of emphasis has been the
play on the defensive end of the
floor, an area in which the Ducks
showed vast improvement Sunday.
The Oregon defense forced numer
ous air balls and shot clock viola
tions and allowed the Tigers to
make only 17.5 percent from the
field. In fact, Savannah State didn’t
even score until 9:09 into the game,
at which point the Ducks had
already dropped in i / points.
“We’ve been practicing
that all week — getting defensive
stops, pressuring the wings,” said
Schafer, who finished with
15 points.
Sixteen of the 27 forced turnovers
were steals leading to 36 points.
Nine of the 12 Ducks that entered
the game recorded at least one steal.
Oregon also blocked seven shots,
led by Schafer and Chamberlain
Oguchi with two apiece.
“They played real sloppy
so we took advantage of it,”
Oguchi said.
It wasn’t just Savannah State
throwing the ball away. Oregon
players dove for balls continuously,
something Oregon coach Ernie
Kent is excited to see.
“I thought they hustled for
40 minutes,” Kent said. “I thought
their energy was very, very good in
this game. So I was very pleased
with their hustle and their effort
even though it was an easy game to
kind of play a lesser opponent.”
Oguchi scored a career- and
game-high 19 points, including 10
of Oregon’s final 13 points. He
made six of eight field goal
attempts, including three of four
from beyond the arc. Two
of Oguchi’s shots came on dunks,
something that fired up the crowd
as well as the Oregon bench.
“I know how energetic the
Pit Crew gets,” Oguchi said. “They
seem to enjoy the dunks and high
lights and stuff. But I think my
teammates seem to enjoy it too.”
MEN, page 8
Zane Rrrr | Photographer
Oregon’s Ray Schafer slams in two of his 15 points Sunday night against
Savannah State, a game Oregon won 83-23. Schafer scored the Ducks’ first seven
points of the game as they rolled to a 17-0 lead eight minutes into the game.
■ Football notes
Williams closes in
on many Oregon
receiving records
Aaron Gipson's two interceptions against OSU
vaulted him to the top of the national charts
BY SHAWN MILLER
SPORTS EDITOR
Records don’t count for much
in Oregon receiver Demetrius
Williams’ eyes; it’s all about
wins and losses. That is com
mon for someone who doesn’t
play much or isn’t on a top-10
chart,' but Williams isn’t one of
those players. Instead, he ranks
in the top five in four major
receiving categories.
Midway through the third
quarter, Williams proved why
he is the ultimate team player.
After Oregon State scored to cut
into the Ducks’ four-touchdown
lead, it was Williams who
caught four passes for 72 yards,
including a six-yard touchdown
to demoralize the Beavers.
Prior to that possession,
Williams had only one catch
for 10 yards. But that didn’t
bother him.
“I just made the best of my
opportunities,” Williams said. “I
feel Dennis (Dixon) did a good
job of throwing the ball, put it
where it needed to be, and it
was my job to catch it.”
A pending bowl game will be
the final time Williams dons the
green and yellow, and has the
chance to take hold on the
record books.
Williams is currently tied for
first in touchdown receptions
(10) and sixth in receiving yards
(1,032) on the single-season list.
For a career, he ranks fourth in
touchdown receptions (20) as
NOTES, page 6
■ Women's basketball
Oregon survives
sloppy play, beats
Wolfpack 61-50
Senior Chelsea Wagner leads the Ducks with
five three-pointers and finishes with 21 points
BY SCOTT J. ADAMS
SPORTS REPORTER
It was hard for Oregon play
ers to be satisfied with their
61-50 win over Nevada Sunday
at McArthur Court. The Ducks
shot five of 20 from the field in
the second half and were outre
bounded 40-32 in a game that
featured a combined 45 fouls.
“It was an ugly game that we
won, but we’re not satisfied
with that,” Oregon’s Chelsea
Wagner said.
The senior tied her career-high
with 21 points in 30 minutes of
play to lead Oregon. Her trio of
first-half three-pointers lifted the
Ducks to an early lead that they
never let go of. She added two
more in the second half to finish
five of seven from beyond the arc.
She may have had Oregon’s
hottest hand Sunday, but she felt
any of her teammates could have
performed just as well.
“I was hitting my shot well
tonight,” she said. “We have so
many players that can hit the shot
and tonight it was me.”
Oregon coach Bev Smith was
pleased with Wagner’s play
throughout the game.
“I liked Chelsea’s contribu
tions,” Smith said. “She was not
afraid to shoot the ball."
Wagner’s start Sunday was the
first of the season for the shooting
guard from Springfield High. She
has been hampered by a past knee
injury aggravated in Oregon’s
Nov. 6 exhibition game against
WOMEN, page 8