For the second game in a row, a team played up to the Oregon men Saturday night, but this time the Ducks stomped them down.
Oregon (15-5 overall, 7-2 Pacific-10 Conference) stayed atop the Pac-10 standings by beating Washington State (4-14, 0-10) 94-86 in Pullman. The Ducks got career highs from sophomore guards James Davis, who netted 21 points, and Luke Ridnour, who scored 24.
“We knew that team wasn’t going to come in here and quit,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent told KUGN-radio after the game. “Especially with the Pac-10 Tournament sitting down there, these teams all have something to play for, and they need Ws.”
Kent was referring to Washington State’s play, which was above average for the team that has yet to win a Pac-10 contest. The Cougars’ 86 points were well above their per-game average of 71, and were the most for Washington State in league play this year. The Cougars are playing for a place in the season-ending Pac-10 Tournament, which will feature the conference’s top eight teams only.
“This was their best game of the year, just like Washington where they came back on us and everything,” Kent said. “That’s a credit to coach (Paul) Graham, because they always, always play hard up here, which is what makes it such a tough trip.”
Two days after Washington’s Doug Wrenn dropped 32 points on Oregon to lead the Huskies to a win in Seattle, Washington State’s Marcus Moore accomplished the same feat Saturday, without the team victory. Moore was unstoppable, scoring from all over the court and eventually ending up with 35 points.
Moore single-handedly got the Cougars back into the game when it looked like the Ducks might pull away late in the second half. Moore scored 10 points over a four-minute stretch to lead Washington State on a 17-2 run. At the end of the run, the Ducks led by only five points with 5:24 left in the contest.
But the Ducks stiff-armed the Cougars the rest of the way by making foul shots — 13-of-14 overall down the stretch — and layups.
“It’s nice to stop the (Washington State) run, and finish a game off and hit free throws,” Kent said.
Oregon built its largest lead of the contest shortly before the Cougar run. With 10 minutes left in the game, Ridnour drove to the basket and hit a layup to make the score 73-52 in favor of the Ducks.
“That’s a good job for our team to build a 21-point lead after the way we played the other night, to come back and score the ball so well,” Kent said.
Ridnour’s game completed a Northwest swing from heaven. The sophomore guard equaled a career-high with 23 points and added seven assists against Washington, with many of his family and friends in attendance. On Saturday, he got his career-best with 24 points, and added three assists.
Davis also had a career game Saturday, scoring 21 points and grabbing four rebounds. Davis’s most telling statistic was his not his three-point shooting but his floor percentage. The sophomore, who has often taken only threes in the past, went 5-for-9 shooting from in front of the arc against the Cougars.
With the win, Oregon stayed in a two-way tie for first place in the Pac-10 at the conference’s mid-way point. Southern California is also 7-2 in conference play after a split with the Bay Area schools, while UCLA, Arizona, California and Stanford are all close behind with three losses each.
“You’ve got six teams in this conference that are NCAA teams, five of them are in the top 25, and Oregon, not Arizona or Stanford, is sitting in first place in this conference at the turn,” Kent said. “We want to take it and try to run with it as hard as we can.”
Oregon will host UCLA and USC on Thursday and Saturday, respectively. With a sweep, the Ducks would hold on to sole possession of first place in the Pac-10.