■ Men’s basketball
Oregon struggles against the Hoyas, lose 71-57
Poor Duck shooting from both the field and the stripe
opens the door for a Georgetown romp at McArthur Court
BY LUKE ANDREWS
SPORTS REPORTER
With three seconds remaining in the
first half of Oregon’s matchup with
Georgetown on Saturday, point guard
Aaron Brooks attempted a pass down
court only to have it intercepted by the
Hoyas’ Jeff Green, who sprinted to
ward the basket and laid it in as Brooks
was called for a foul. Green completed
the three-point play with one second
remaining to give Georgetown a 28-23
lead at the break.
It was just that type of day for the
Ducks (4-2), who lost their second
consecutive game of the season,
falling 71-57 to the Hoyas (3-1) in
front of 9,087 at McArthur Court.
The loss ended a 35-game home
winning streak for Oregon against
non-conference opponents.
“I thought Georgetown did an excel
lent job. It’s unfortunate we let a game
like this get away from us,” Oregon
coach Ernie Kent said. “The three-point
play at the end of the half was huge. It
just gave them the momentum of the
game that we really never got back from
them from an energy perspective. ”
Georgetown’s Ashanti Cook led all
scorers with 25 points, including 4-of-5
shooting from three-point range. He
was eight for 10 shooting from the
floor. As a team, the Hoyas shot 50
percent from the field.
“(Cook) made some tough shots.
The kid had a good day,” George
town coach John Thompson III
said. “I thought our guys showed a
lot of toughness in how we went
about our business.”
The Hoyas’ 7-foot-2 center Roy
Hibbert poured in 16 points and
grabbed 10 rebounds. Hibbert also had
three blocked shots and was perfect on
all six attempts from the free-throw line.
“The big fella (Hibbert) was tough
inside. He took our inside game away
from us completely in terms of chang
ing shots and making it difficult for
Ray (Schafer) and Ivan (Johnson) to
get anything done inside,” Kent said.
“Thankfully, we won’t play anyone
with that kind of size again. ”
Malik Hairston led the Ducks with
17 points, Brooks chipped in 13, and
Bryce Taylor had 12, capping the Ore
gon players in double figures. The
Hoya defense, often switching from
man to zone, controlled Oregon’s of
fense, which was limited to a season
low 57 points and managed only 50
attempts from the field.
“Our offense was a little stagnant
today,” Brooks said. “We got off to
a good start, but they took away our
transition and we struggled in the
half court.”
The Ducks raced to a 12-4 lead early
in the first half after a three by Brooks
and five straight points from Taylor.
But Georgetown managed a 9-0 run —
seven from Cook — to regain the lead
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Oregon’s Ray
Schafer (45)
contests a
shot by
Georgetown’s
Roy Hibbert
Saturday.
Georgetown
defeated
Oregon
71-57, the
Ducks’
second loss
in as many
Tim Bobosky | Photo editor games.
at 13-12. It was a lead the Hoyas would
not relinquish.
“I thought we started the game
with tremendous energy,” Kent
said. “From the first eight to 10 min
utes of the game, we had eight
straight stops in a row ... and I
thought we were in great shape in
the game, and for some reason, we
just went flat. Our legs went dead,
we stopped defending, and we let
Ashanti Cook get away. It went from
us controlling the tempo of the
game to where they controlled the
tempo of the game.”
Leading 28-23 at halftime, George
town scored the first seven points of the
second half to take a 35-23 lead. The
Ducks would get no closer than seven
the rest of the way as theTloyas effec
tively slowed the pace by using most of
the shot clock on their possessions.
In addition to an impressive
shooting performance, the Hoyas
outrebounded the Ducks 37-20,
limiting Oregon’s second chance
points as well. Georgetown also
won the battle at the free-throw
line, connecting on 21 of 26
attempts, while the Ducks made
only seven of 17.
“We didn’t play basketball like
Oregon today,” Hairston said.
Losing two straight games is not
the ideal scenario for Kent and
company entering the Pape Jam
next Saturday against national run
ner-up Illinois (7-0). The No. 12 Illi
ni, led by senior point guard Dee
Brown, defeated the Ducks 83-66
last season before their run to the
NCAA Championship game.
landrews@dailyemerald. com
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