Controversy surrounded a 64-62 Oregon loss at Stanford Saturday as the Ducks remained winless away from McArthur Court.
Perhaps the most questionable no-call of the season ended the game and continued a 20-game losing streak at Stanford (6-6 overall, 2-2 Pacific-10 Conference).
Trailing by two points, Oregon (7-8, 1-2) put the ball in the hands of point guard Aaron Brooks. Brooks drove from the right wing toward the unguarded basket in the final three seconds. As he shot the ball, two Stanford defenders made contact, sending Brooks and the ball airborne. The only whistles that were blown were to signal the end of the game.
“Aaron Brooks made a great, great move,” Oregon coach Ernie Kent said. “We had the right play on, we just didn’t get the right call and there is nothing we can do about that.”
Malik Hairston, who scored the Ducks’ final nine points, recorded 15 of his game-high 21 points in the second half.
“We called his number every time down the stretch,” Kent said of Hairston. “We called his number, he delivered. He looked like the big-time player tonight that he is.”
Stanford led by as many as 13 points early in the second half, but Oregon clawed its way back into the game. Bryce Taylor hit a three-pointer in transition with 13:55 remaining, highlighting a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to four points. From that point the Ducks never trailed by more than six points, but were unable to get over the hump.
“I would love to have gotten the lead on (Stanford),” Kent said. “There would have been a totally different set of pressure.”
Oregon played the second half without Maarty Leunen, who scored 11 points in the first half. Leunen landed on a Stanford defender after making a jumper with 44 seconds remaining in the first half. He came up limping, the effect of a sprained ankle that sidelined him for the rest of the game.
“It’s unfortunate that we didn’t have Maarty in the game because I think that would have made a huge difference,” Kent said. “He was on the way to having another great game.”
The Ducks also played without the services of 6-foot-8 Ivan Johnson, who was sent home Friday for disciplinary reasons.
“There are things that he needs to do and when he doesn’t do them there are consequences,” Kent said. “And in this case he needed to be sent home and not just for one thing, but an accumulation of things maybe from the last six weeks.
“We need Ivan Johnson, but we need Ivan Johnson the right way. The right way he can help this basketball team, the wrong way he can hurt this team.”
Ray Schafer scored 10 points with six rebounds off the bench for the Ducks.
Oregon hosts Arizona State (6-6, 0-3) Thursday at 7 p.m.

[email protected]