Luke Jackson played inspired basketball in the second half. Ian Crosswhite played inspired in overtime.
And between the two of them, Jackson and Crosswhite were able to play enough inspired basketball to lift Oregon to an inspiring 96-91 overtime win over UCLA in Los Angeles.
“We had to win this game,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent told KUGN-AM after the game. “And I think this team showed a gutsy performance to do it.”
Gutsy performance No. 1 came courtesy of Jackson, who wasn’t even supposed to play in the game in the first place. But he put the pain of a severly lacerated ring finger behind him, came off the bench five minutes into the game, scored 27 points and was the Ducks’ spark as point guard Luke Ridnour sat out most of the second half with four fouls.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Kent said. “That will go down as one of the all-time gutsy performances, with the way his hand looked last week, and a week later he’s back on that floor, helping this team to win.”
Gutsy performance No. 2 came courtesy of Crosswhite, who scored eight of Oregon’s 15 points in overtime, most during a crucial stretch midway through the extra period, when UCLA was threatening to take over. With the Bruins leading 85-84, Crosswhite hit a long three-pointer with a defender in his face to put the Ducks ahead 87-85. Later, he spun around defender Ryan Hollins, laid the ball in and converted the foul shot as Hollins fouled the big Australian. That gave Oregon a lead it wouldn’t relinquish, at 92-91.
“To come out and score so many points, especially at clutch times, was great for me,” Crosswhite, who scored 22 points total, told Fox Sports.
UCLA came out of the gates in the first half as a different team than advertised. The Bruins, supposedly struggling through the Pac-10 season, hit eight of their first 11 shots and jumped out to an 18-8 lead. The Ducks got their three-point game going, and went on a 14-3 run to pull back even, and then finished the half on a 7-0 run to lead 42-35 at halftime.
But UCLA came out of halftime fired up. Ridnour picked up his third foul, UCLA went on a 12-4 run and Ridnour picked up his fourth foul with 15:11 remaining. Kent kept him out of the game and the Ducks — with freshman Brandon Lincoln running the point — stayed with the Bruins until the 7:53 mark.
“I thought that was key, that we didn’t let them get the momentum with Ridnour on the bench,” Kent said.
That’s about when Jackson took over the game, scoring six-straight points on three different scintillating moves. The first was a fadeaway in which Jackson faded all the way back to the floor, the second was an up and under lay in, and the third was a quick drive and lay-in, with the final bucket putting Oregon ahead 74-73.
The teams exchanged baskets and leads until the very end, when Hollins’ free throw with 39.7 seconds left tied the game at 81. The Ducks ran out the clock, but Ridnour lost the ball with five seconds left, giving UCLA one last shot to win the contest. But Ryan Walcott missed a three pointer and the game went to overtime.
The Ducks won’t move in the Pac-10 standings with the win, as Stanford and Arizona State upset Arizona and California, respectively, meaning that the Cardinal remain third and the Sun Devils remained tied for fourth with Oregon. If the Ducks can beat USC on Sunday, they will either move into a three-way tie for third or hold fourth by themselves, depending on the outcome of the ASU-Stanford game Saturday.
“This win speaks volumes about our team and where we’re at right now,” Kent said. “This team is starting to expand. SC could be a really big game for us.”
Oregon and USC will tip off at noon on Sunday. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Net.