The Oregon men’s basketball team fell just short of a rare sweep of the Bay Area schools on Saturday, losing 85-77 at the hands of California.
Oregon (10-11, 3-6 Pacific-10 Conference) was riding a modest two-game winning streak after rousing victories over Oregon State and Stanford. Yet, despite an inspired comeback after trailing by double digits early on, California (12-9, 5-4) proved too much to overcome.
With a raucous home crowd at their backs, the Golden Bears came storming out of the gates early on. The Ducks appeared lost on the floor, and with 11:50 remaining in the half California had grabbed a 29-11 lead.
It was then that Oregon head coach Dana Altman decided to call a full timeout. Television cameras caught him laying into the team, presumably urging them to wake up. Afterward, he admitted as much.
“I just thought our energy level was really bad,” Altman told The Oregonian. “I don’t know if we were still patting ourselves on the back for the other night or what.”
Whatever Altman said appeared to work. Less than a minute later, senior guard Jay-R Strowbridge connected on a three-pointer to cut the lead to fifteen. Junior guard Garrett Sim followed suit with a three-point field goal of his own, and the Ducks were finally off and running.
By halftime, California held a 47-35 lead. It was after the intermission that Oregon mounted a comeback in earnest.
With the 13:54 remaining the game, junior forward Jeremy Jacob hit a jumper to cut the advantage down to 53-49. From there, the teams continued to trade baskets as the Ducks desperately fought to regain the lead.
Yet, it simply wasn’t meant to be. The Ducks trailed just 73-70 with two minutes left, but they never made it over the hump and eventually fell.
Poor free throw shooting proved costly, as Oregon made just 17 of 26 attempts from the line. Leading the way for the Ducks was senior forward Joevan Catron, who totaled 22 points and eight rebounds. Junior forward Tyrone Nared added 14 points and 10 rebounds, and junior guard Malcolm Armstead scored 16 points of his own.
California had 15 turnovers in the game but shot 50 percent from beyond the arc. Mark Sanders-Frison and Allen Crabbe each scored 18 points.
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