Oregon lost another close decision Saturday, in front of 9,087 at McArthur Court, falling 95-86 to the USC Trojans in overtime. It was the Ducks’ fourth Pacific-10 Conference loss in a row and their second-straight defeat at home.
The Trojans led all night, with Oregon tying the game just twice. The first tie was at 2-2 after a Malik Hairston putback on Oregon’s first possession, the second came in the final play of regulation, an inbound pass to a cutting Bryce Taylor for a lay-up that would send the game to overtime.
Oregon trailed by as many as 14 in the game and by nine, 66-57, with just 1:39 left to play. Three Tajuan Porter free throws drew Oregon to within six at 66-60, then Hairston would score nine straight for the Ducks to pull them within three points, 72-69, with 30 seconds remaining.
A missed free throw by USC guard Daniel Hackett, who led all scorers with 26 points, led to a Porter three from the left wing, pulling Oregon to within one, 73-72, with 15.7 seconds on the clock. Hackett was fouled immediately and again made one-of-two from the line, setting up Taylor’s tying bucket.
“It just shows a lot about our team,” said senior forward Maarty Leunen of the comeback. “Even though we struggled the whole game, we could have given up earlier, but we kept on fighting, even through all the adversity we went through and things not going our way.”
Between the end of regulation and the start of the overtime period, a clock malfunction delayed the tip-off of the extra period for several minutes.
When the overtime finally tipped off, Taylor stole the USC tip and looked to be breaking away for a layup that would have given the Ducks their first lead of the night, but the scoreboard buzzer went off and the referees whistled a stop to the action. The officials ruled possession of the ball in USC’s favor and freshman guard O.J. Mayo hit a three, giving USC the lead and the momentum back.
Mayo had 25 points in the game and led the Trojans with eight rebounds.
No official word was forthcoming after the game as to why the Trojans were awarded possession of the ball after the stolen tip. Oregon coach Ernie Kent said he had been given three different explanations. The first was that the official’s toss on the tip had been unfairly thrown in Leunen’s favor, (though USC center Taj Gibson won the tip), the second that Taylor had moved before the ball was tipped to get the steal, and the third that the inadvertent horn had resulted in an alternating possession situation, giving USC the ball.
Kent said after the game that he was still unclear as to what the call actually was, but was pursuing a final answer from the officials and the Pac-10.
“You can’t really make any excuses for the way that we played in overtime but I would definitely say that it was a tough break,” said Taylor of the call.
USC would go on to shoot 5-for-5 from three-point range and 6-for-8 from the free-throw line in overtime to secure the win.
“They just elevated their game in overtime and we didn’t do the same,” Taylor said.
For the third game in a row, the Ducks couldn’t finish the deal despite having late opportunities to claim a win.
“We’re on a skid right now,” sophomore forward Joevan Catron said. “Just to win that game, it would have really helped our confidence and done a lot for our team.”
But Kent and veterans Leunen and Taylor were quick to say that the team’s mindset is still positive moving forward.
“We hate to be losing … but at the same time there’s still 10 league games left,” Taylor said. “We feel like we’ve been making improvements as a team.”
Malik Hairston led Oregon in scoring with 21 points, and Maarty Leunen notched another double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Porter had 17 points on 7-of-7 free-throw shooting despite a tough 4-of-16 night from the field.
Taylor finished with 16 points and Catron had 15 points and five rebounds off the bench.
The Ducks will get three days off from practice, according to Kent, and then come back to get ready for Oregon State, who comes to Mac Court at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Taylor said that, despite the losing streak, the team won’t be making any big changes in their approach.
“We’re going to take the same approach that we have been,” he said. “Just watch film, see what we did wrong, and then try to improve.”
[email protected]