If Monday night’s basketball game was a horror movie, then California-State Northridge would be the bad guy who keeps coming back at the end.
The Matadors just wouldn’t die.
But despite the monumental efforts of the Northridge players, the No. 10 Oregon men’s basketball team improved to 2-0 on the young season with an 86-77 victory in front of 8,560 fans at McArthur Court. The win gave the Ducks the title in the two-day John Thompson Challenge.
“As I’ve stated before, we’re not going to blow out every team every night,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. “But this was good for us. We didn’t play our best game, and it forced us to fight through adversity.”
The Ducks didn’t put away the game until the final minutes. The Matadors tied the game with 3:17 remaining and got within two points with less than two minutes on the clock. But the Ducks hit five of six free throws down the stretch and came up with two key defensive stops over the final minutes to pull out the win.
Forward Luke Jackson led the Ducks with 23 points on the strength of 12-for-12 shooting from the free-throw line. Five Oregon players scored in double figures, including Brian Helquist, who notched a career-high 11 points and added nine rebounds.
“We won,” Helquist said, when asked what it felt like to score a career high.
That phrase applied to the feelings of most of the Ducks after Monday’s close win, their first close game after averaging more than 121 points in two exhibition games and the season opener.
“This showed we can play another type of game other than an up-tempo game,” said senior forward Robert Johnson, who had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The Matadors made it close throughout the second half. Northridge started the second frame with a 14-7 run, but Oregon answered with a 21-8 run of its own to make the score 61-51 with 11:15 remaining. The Matadors slowly crawled back into the game as the Ducks turned the ball over on seven-straight possessions, and Northridge eventually knotted the score with an easy lay-in from forward William McDonald.
“They played real well tonight,” point guard Luke Ridnour said.
Ridnour was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player after scoring 40 points and adding 18 assists combined in the Challenge’s two games.
For the second night in a row, the Ducks were out-rebounded by their opponent, 36-29.
Oregon has two games before facing No. 2 Kansas in a nationally-televised rematch of last season’s Elite Eight contest, Dec. 7 at the Papé Jam in Portland.
Until then, the Ducks are trying to learn from Monday’s game.
“Nobody’s going to come in here and lay down for us,” Helquist said.
And like a good horror-film villain, they just won’t die, either.