Bryan Bracey strolled into the basement media room after Saturday’s game at McArthur Court, slouched in a chair in front of cameras, microphones and curious on-lookers, and tried to explain it all.
But nothing really came out. His mouth failed to tell the story that his big brown eyes clearly revealed.
Disbelief.
In their last Pacific-10 Conference game in white Oregon uniforms, Bracey and the rest of the Duck seniors could not hang on to a 12-point lead late in the second half, and fell in overtime, 87-80, to Southern California.
“I don’t know if it’s the toughest, but this is a tough loss,” said Bracey, who paced the Ducks with 22 points and eight rebounds. “I was pretty confident that we were going to pull it off. As a team, I guess we thought we already had the game won and we just stopped blocking out and stopped doing the things that got us our lead.”
After a Bracey three-pointer with 5:22 to play put the Ducks (13-12 overall, 4-11 Pac-10) up 72-60, a sudden chill drifted through The Pit. For the next three minutes and 50 seconds, Oregon couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn, sparking a 13-0 Trojan run.
“This was a basketball game that we had control of and should have won,” head coach Ernie Kent said. “It’s been typical of our season where we get a big bucket and turn around and wave our hands and do all those things, but our focus has to stay.”
In overtime, the Ducks could only muster one bucket — an Anthony Norwood three-pointer — and shot just 1-for-9. Led by David Bluthenthal’s seven points, USC (18-8, 8-6) out-scored Oregon 11-4 in the extra session. Bluthenthal had a game-high 29 points on 8-of-11 shooting, including a 5-for-7 performance from three-point land.
“We really wanted to get this for our seniors for all that they’ve done for us,” junior guard Freddie Jones said. “And I thought we had it.”
Before fouling out with 25 seconds to play in overtime, Jones had one of his better all-around games of the season. He scored 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting, grabbed seven boards and dished out seven assists — with only one turnover.
“Freddie played a tremendous game,” said Norwood, who scored 16 points. “That’s how we need Freddie every game, and he knows it. He’s an awesome player, and that’s exactly what we need from him.”
The loss puts the Ducks’ postseason hopes even further in the balance. To be considered for the National Invitational Tournament, Oregon must win one of its three remaining games, either at one of the Arizona schools or at Oregon State in the Pac-10 finale.
“There’s no quit in this team,” Kent said. “[The road] is a good place for us to be because right now it’s important for me to teach these young guys how you come back and continue to battle. In reality, regardless of the losses, we are expanding our program as we fight through this.”
The sellout crowd — the sixth this season — showed its admiration for the Oregon seniors, in particular Flo Hartenstein, who received a standing ovation after fouling out with 17:14. Saturday’s game was Hartenstein’s 109th in his four-year career as a Duck.
Unless the Ducks host an NIT first-round game, Saturday’s game was the last at Mac Court for seniors Bracey, Hartenstein, Julius Hicks and David Jackson.