Forget the last 33 minutes of the game.
That was when the Oregon men’s basketball team outscored Morris Brown,
87-41, en route to a yawn-filled 96-50 victory Thursday night at McArthur Court.
But let’s go back to the first seven minutes of the game. After all, it
was the only part of the contest that could even be considered competitive.
First off, consider this: Oregon entered the game with an 8-3 record and was playing for the first time since beating then-11th ranked Arizona by 30 points.
Morris Brown, meanwhile, is playing its first season in Division I and
sported a 1-10 record as it flew into Eugene for its third game in a
season-high nine game road swing.
On paper, this was no contest. And in reality, it turned out to be no
contest.
But those Morris Brown Wolverines, based in Atlanta, Ga., sure came out
with a vengeance.
Morris Brown took the 3-0 lead on a Johnathon Jester trey.
Then Jester got the ball on their next possession after an Oregon
turnover and got fouled by Chris Christoffersen. Jester made both free throws at the 17:57 mark to give his team the 5-0 lead.
By this time, Oregon head coach Ernie Kent was frustrated. He got up from the bench. He sat down. He got up again, clapped his hands in an attempt to motivate.
The Ducks scored their first points of the game on a three-pointer from
Luke Ridnour and tied it up with a Robert Johnson bucket with 15:22 remaining in the first half.
The holiday crowd was starting to get antsy. One fan was heard yelling,
“Don’t do another Portland on us Ducks, c’mon!,” he said, referring to
Oregon’s loss at Portland earlier in the month.
The teams then traded baskets, with Morris Brown taking the 7-5 advantage and then Oregon tying it up on a Freddie Jones layup. The Ducks took the lead on a Christoffersen rebound basket, but Morris Brown would not be denied with Larry Washington’s layup at 13:03 to play in the half evening up the score at 9-9.
But that’s when the first seven minutes ended and that’s when the Oregon rout began. From there, the Ducks scored 23 unanswered points to open the game as wide as the Grand Canyon.
To add insult to injury to the lowly Wolverines, Ridnour swished through a half court heave as the halftime buzzer sounded to give the Ducks the 56-20 intermission lead.
The game should have ended right there.
“I want to thank the fans because they did a great job,” Kent
said. “This was a tough game and we needed their support. Hopefully we gave them a nice holiday break.”
The halftime break didn’t slow down Oregon’s onslaught. The Ducks opened the second half of the game with a 14-2 run that extended the lead to 70-22 with 15 minutes to play.
Nothing exciting happened from there on out, except for Morris Brown’s
beefy center Franklin Major flipping off the Oregon alumni band and Duck cheerleaders after they taunted him during a pair of free throw attempts.
As far as the stats go, Jones led five Ducks in double figures with 19
points in 18 minutes of action. Ridnour scored 13, Christoffersen contributed 12, Luke Jackson continued to stay hot with 11 and James Davis had an 11-point performance as well.
Joseph Dunn’s 12 points led Morris Brown.
In a game like this, Oregon was able to utilize its bench. One of the
beneficiaries of the extra playing time was forward Mark Michaelis, who
grabbed a career-high eight rebounds and scored four points.
“All of us who usually don’t get a lot of minutes got a chance to play
a lot today,” Michaelis said.
More than anything, Thursday night’s game served as a chance for Oregon
players to stay in shape in between Pacific-10 Conference battles. The Ducks next play on Jan. 4 in Tucson, Ariz., in a rematch with the Wildcats.
“I think it’s an advantage to play them so close together because
they’re still fresh in our minds,” Michaelis said.
Now, the Oregon sports fan’s attention shifts back to the 2nd-ranked
football team as it prepares for the Jan. 1 Fiesta Bowl matchup with No. 3 Colorado.
And you can count the men’s hoops team as part of those fans who can’t
wait to see their fellow athletes play the Buffaloes. Michaelis, for one, says that his Ducks are going to take care of business.
“I’m definitely a Duck,” Michaelis said. “And we’re going to
kill Colorado. Plus, there’s still a share of the national championship to go and get.”
And then, win or lose in the Fiesta Bowl, it will be the men’s basketball team’s turn to find out if they can carry their success at the Pit out on the unforgivable road with them as the Pac-10 season kicks into high gear.
Assistant sports editor Jeff Smith can be reached at
[email protected].
Oregon almost doubles Morris Brown in rout at the Pit
Daily Emerald
December 27, 2001
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