When the Oregon men’s basketball team was mired in a shooting slump earlier this year, sophomore forward E.J. Singler became fond of saying that the Ducks simply had to keep throwing up shots. Eventually, the ball would have to find the net.
It did Saturday against Oregon State (8-10, 3-4 Pacific-10 Conference), as Oregon (9-10, 2-5 Pac-10) shot 50 percent from the field and hit nine three-pointers en route to a 63-59 victory.
“We just got on a roll and we didn’t stop,” Singler told The Register-Guard. “We kept pushing it to ’em, we kept attacking ’em and we were hitting shots.”
Indeed, the hot shooting began early in the first half. After falling behind 11-8, Singler hit a three-pointer to tie it up. Senior guard Jay-R Strowbridge followed with a layup, and the Ducks were off and running.
Over the next twelve minutes, Oregon dominated the action with a 25-5 run to take a 33-16 lead. The Beavers finally responded with an 8-0 run of their own, and at halftime Oregon held a 33-24 lead.
It was during the opening minutes of the second half when it looked like the wheels might fall off for the Ducks. Feeding off the momentum they gained just before halftime, the Beavers roared out of the gates to take a 40-38 lead with 12 minutes remaining.
Still, the Ducks didn’t panic.
“We know there are going to be runs,” Singler told The Register-Guard. “Especially on someone else’s home court.”
Sensing that his team needed a spark, Strowbridge stepped up. With 7:33 remaining and Oregon trailing 44-42, he hit a jump shot. Then, less than a minute later, he drove in for a layup. When Oregon State’s Jared Cunningham missed a three-pointer at the other end, Strowbridge took a pass from freshman guard Johnathan Loyd and laid it in.
In just over a minute of playing time, Strowbridge had scored six points on his own and given Oregon a 48-46 lead.
“The whole complexion of the game just changed with those buckets,” Altman told The Oregonian.
Feeding off of the momentum generated by Strowbridge, Singler and junior guard Garrett Sim each hit three-pointers to give Oregon a 54-50 lead with 3:40 remaining.
Oregon State would never regain the lead.
After the Beavers called a timeout, Strowbridge hit a three-pointer of his own to push the lead to seven. He had missed his other three attempts from beyond the arc, but none of that registered. He was in a groove.
“I didn’t even think twice about it,” Strowbridge told The Register-Guard. “I just wanted to step in and shoot it.”
The Beavers refused to quit, and cut the lead back to four with 25 seconds remaining. Singler took the ball and was quickly fouled to stop the clock. An 84 percent shooter from the line heading into Saturday’s game, it seemed a foregone conclusion that Singler would ice the game.
Instead, Singer missed both free throws, and Oregon State’s Roberto Nelson followed with a jump shot to cut the lead to 61-59.
“Those two free throws are haunting me, right now,” Singler told The Register-Guard. “If we would have lost, I don’t know what I would have done.”
Fittingly, it was Strowbridge who ensured that the Ducks would go home winners. Fouled with just seven seconds left, Strowbridge coolly hit both free throws to put the Beavers away for good.
It was an important win for the Ducks in a heated rivalry game.
“That’s a huge win,” Sim told The Register-Guard. “It was a must win. A rivalry game … that was big for us to come in here and win.”
For his part, Sim tied a season high with 15 points. Singler led the way with 16 points, while Strowbridge finished with 15 of his own.
It was the first time Oregon had won at Gill Coliseum since March 2008. Few Oregon’s players were around at that time, but that didn’t make Saturday’s victory any less sweet.
“I definitely wanted to win this game,” Singler told The Oregonian. “And it feels really good right now.”
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