McArthur Court, a building that has hosted its fair share of frantic endings, was again the venue for an unbelievable finish — one that sent Oregon fans home in shock and dejection.
The Ducks fell to their Northwest rival Washington Huskies 72-71 in overtime on a controversial final play that left the crowd of 8,786 wondering exactly what had transpired.
“I’m not sure what happened,” Oregon forward Luke Jackson said.
The scene: Oregon trailing by one with six seconds left in overtime after Washington freshman Curtis Allen banked in a clutch spinning layin.
After a timeout, Freddie Jones dribbles the length of the court, and then loses control of the ball amidst a double-team of Husky defenders.
Jones grabs and tips it to freshman teammate Luke Ridnour, who instinctively flicks up a shot almost simultaneous with the sound of the buzzer.
The ball slides down the net, but is emphatically waved off by referee Bobby McRoy.
“I just got it and shot it … it’s too close to tell,” Ridnour said.
Oregon fans beginning to storm the court are stopped in their tracks by the reality that Washington has won the game.
The game was not televised and, therefore, there were no replays for the referees to review.
But at 10 p.m., Oregon head coach Ernie Kent was able to view the play for the first time through the eyehole of KMTR-TV’s camera in the media room.
“You bet it was, absolutely,” Kent said, believing that Ridnour’s shot should have counted. “As you can see clearly, the shot was good to me.”
Washington head coach Bob Bender wasn’t sure if the shot was late, but didn’t want that to diminish his team’s win.
“I just knew that it was going to go in ­ that’s just the type of game this was,” Bender said. “I looked for an official and saw they called it off. This was really an emotional win for us.”
The heartbreaking defeat was Oregon’s third straight loss. It dropped the Ducks to 10-4 overall and 1-3 in the Pacific-10 Conference, making the road to the NCAA Tournament an uphill climb. Washington (8-9, 2-3), on the other hand, snapped the Ducks’ nine-game home winning streak, which coincidentally began after the Huskies beat them in Eugene last season.
Oregon knows it can’t look back on that final play because its own poor shooting was its real downfall. The Ducks made just seven field goals in the first half and finished with 34.5 shooting percentage from the field. Even worse, Oregon converted on only three of its 22 three-point attempts.
“We were out-played and out-energized,” said Kent, whose players held a lengthy closed-door meeting following the game. “We made key mistakes and didn’t match their intelligence level. We definitely weren’t ready to play.”
Oregon was led in scoring by Bryan Bracey, who scored eight of his game-high 23 points in the final 1:12 of regulation to send the game to overtime. Washington was paced by South Salem High graduate Thalo Green, who couldn’t stop smiling after scoring 22 points in his final game at Mac Court.
“I’m going to miss this place incredibly,” Green said. “I love the hostile environment. They expect you to lose.”
As Green said good-bye to The Pit, Washington’s Allen greeted it with a game-winner.
“It feels good, especially here in Oregon, and to send those fans home sad-faced,” said the freshman from Tacoma, Wash.
As for Oregon, it must regroup in a hurry for Saturday’s 3 p.m. contest with Washington State.
“We have to come out like our life is on the line,” Jones said.