by DSH contributing writer Eric Sloat
When you need the win it doesn’t matter what it looks like, and that was the case for the Ducks against the Cougars. If someone had heard the score, they would have thought it was from a baseball game, it took 3 minutes for Oregon to get on the board, via a couple of free throws by Joe Young, his only points in the first half. It would not be until nearly 8 minutes had elapsed before Richard Amardi would register the first basket for the Ducks. Credit the Ducks defense for keeping Oregon in the game. Washington State was playing slow down ball to perfection, not even attempting shots until the clock was in single digits. Oregon was frustrated and it showed in the number of lay-ups that were missed.
The slowdown was working for the Cougars so far, but it also kept them from exploiting Oregon’s bad play. The Cougars largest lead of the game would be 7. First at 17-10, but a run of 3’s, 2 by Moser and one by Loyd, enabled the Ducks to tie the game at 19. But the Cougars took the air out of the ball again, outscored Oregon 12-5, and for the second game in a row, the Ducks trailed at the half, this time by 7, 31-24.
Fortunately for Oregon the similarities between the games didn’t stop with the halftime deficit, but also in how the team would respond, and who would lead the charge. Just as he had done against Washington, Moser opened the second half with a dunk for the Ducks; this one coming off a steal of te Cougars’ inbounds pass. He followed that with a 3, then another from even deeper, and then yet another straight on from the top of the key. Timeout Washington State, Moser 11- WSU 3, and Oregon would take the lead, 35-24, and never give it back. Oregon continued the assault getting more of the loose balls and rebounds, and turning the tempo completely around, forcing WSU to take bad shots or turn the ball over, which they did 17 times to Oregon’s 9. As bad as it looked for Oregon in the early part of the game, their shooting percentage was alright because the slowdown kept their shot attempts down, they finished 22-46, 47% from the field, 11-20 on 3’s, 55% with 15 assists., WSU would finish 15-46, 32% and 6-22, 27% from deep, and only 6 assists. (Scott Olmos, USA Today photo).
Young got his game going midway through to seal it for Oregon. With 5:45 left Oregon had maintained its lead, but had only gotten it to 6, 52-46, next possession Young hit a 3, 55-46, 2 free throws by Young, a 3 for Young, 2 more free throws, 10 straight for Young, and the Ducks were on top at one point, 65-48. The game played itself out and Oregon had the win to make it 3 in a row, and off to LA for games against UCLA on Thursday and USC on Saturday.
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