With Oregon leading by 18 points in the final minutes against Oregon State on Saturday, Aaron Brooks, the Pac-10’s leading scorer and candidate for Pac-10 Player of the Year, made his final exit – and subsequent bow – at McArthur Court as he played in his final regular-season game in Eugene.
Brooks finished with 18 points Saturday – a fitting end for the senior point guard who’s made so many key shots this season for a team almost assured of an NCAA Tournament berth when the field is announced next Sunday.
“It’s been a great experience,” said Brooks, who accumulated 505 points this season. “It’s exactly what I thought it would be like when I signed on the dotted line to come and play here.”
Applause also erupted for the pregame introductions and late-game exits of seniors Adam Zahn and Adrian Stelly.
The final applause came when the No. 17 Ducks (23-7, 11-7 Pacific-10) beat the Beavers (11-20, 3-15 Pac-10) 70-49 to finish their regular season on a three-game winning streak and with a 14th consecutive victory at home against Oregon State.
The victory, coupled with a USC loss and an Arizona victory, means Oregon will take its momentum into the Pac-10 Tournament next Thursday as the fourth seed and will face Arizona. The Ducks finished the season tied for third in the Pac-10.
“I’m happy for my seniors because they had an opportunity to go out winners,” Oregon coach Ernie Kent said. “They never gave up on themselves. They are peaking at the right time.”
Along with Brooks, junior Bryce Taylor scored a game-high 22 points, and junior Maarty Leunen contributed 14 points and 10 rebounds to help push Oregon’s final regular-season home record to 16-2, which ties program records for home wins that were set in 1937-38 and 2001-02.
“If you go look at our season when those three guys play well we won a lot of basketball games,” Kent said.
The Beavers didn’t help their cause, shooting 28.6 percent from the field in the first half on Saturday, including 1 for 10 on three-point attempts. Conversely, the Ducks connected on 6 of 9 three-pointers to conclude the half shooting 52.2 percentage from the field overall. Brooks hit all four of his threes as Oregon took a 33-17 lead into the break.
The Beavers came as close as 40-29 in the second half, but couldn’t find a way to lessen that margin.
Oregon State coach Jay John, noting the many missed opportunities, said the Ducks effectively took the Beavers’ big men out of game by shooting the ball well.
“That’s what their deal is,” John said. “If they’re shooting it, they force one big on the bench. The high-low stuff for other teams works only if Oregon isn’t hitting.”
John also said Oregon is Kent’s most unselfish team he has ever seen, which makes for a special team.
“If they’re shooting it (well), then they are gonna be a tough out (in postseason play),” John said.
Though the Ducks shot it well Saturday, freshman point guard Tajuan Porter certainly did not, though he did match the Pac-10 freshman record for number of three-pointers made with 82 set in 2000 by former UCLA standout Jason Kapono, who recently won the NBA’s three-point competition during the All-Star game weekend.
Porter missed five three-pointers in the last 3:18 of the game in pursuit of the record before he was taken out.
“I wish they hadn’t announced that he had tied the record,” Kent said. “Then you don’t have the same emphasis on the guy trying to get it.
“I said ‘Tajuan, you tied a great player in Jason Kapono, and we’ll just live with that and move on.’”
By almost all accounts, Oregon’s focus is now on Arizona, which the Ducks will battle in the Pac-10 Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday in Los Angeles. Brooks said he thinks the two teams are similar offensively – with Oregon winning on the road against the Wildcats and the Wildcats winning in Eugene.
Either way, no one from Oregon seemed to mind not having to play Stanford first.
“(Arizona) likes to run, push the ball, and have a little smaller guards than Stanford, so we’re looking forward to that,” Brooks said. “I think it’s a better match-up than Stanford would be. But I know we’re gonna have to play smart … they’re a team of runs.”
Kent said: “We felt like it was a good match-up for us. Stanford is so big and they cause us some problems down there.”
More excitement comes on Sunday, Kent said, when the NCAA Tournament participants are announced.
“I am really looking forward to next Sunday when they can sit in this building (McArthur Court) and see their name go up on that screen, because that’s the trophy,” Kent said. “The reward for all this hard work is March Madness.”