BERKELEY, Calif. — A 19-point first half lead had evaporated. A Haas Pavilion crowd of 12,000 had been recharged.
And the Oregon men’s basketball team found itself once again in the midst of a tight game on the road.
This time, the opponent was California and this time, the Ducks were playing to hold onto their share of first place.
When the tension-filled double overtime contest finally ended, the Ducks had dropped an entertaining 107-103 loss Saturday night that also dropped them from the top spot in the standings.
Arizona (17-6, 10-3) swept the Washington schools to take over first place in the Pacific-10 Conference and Oregon (17-7, 9-4) now sits a game behind in second place. The Ducks also fell from No. 13 to No. 17 in Monday’s Associated Press writers’ poll and are ranked 18th in the coaches’ poll.
Saturday’s loss before the hostile Cal crowd came two nights after the Ducks’ setback at Stanford, 90-87, in overtime. All seven of the Ducks’ losses have come away from home, where they’re 13-0, and all have been by seven points or less.
“That’s life on the road in the Pac-10,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said.
After Saturday’s latest setback, the Ducks admitted frustration with their road performances and especially the overtime defeats from the weekend. But they also insisted that when the tension mounts, the minutes dwindle and the roar of the crowd is against them, they don’t tighten and play with less confidence.
“Our team does a really good job with zoning the crowd out,” said Luke Jackson, who scored a career-high 29 points against the Bears. “We took both these teams into overtime. That proves we could beat them.”
“We don’t doubt ourselves; we know we can win,” point guard Luke Ridnour said. “These were two great chances for us, but unfortunately we didn’t get some breaks.”
Down the hall from the two Lukes while they spoke, slumped against a wall in the basement of Haas Pavilion, was Freddie Jones. The Oregon senior wanted to make sure that none of the blame for this road trip went toward his teammates.
Jones may have scored a combined 59 points over the weekend, but the only number he cared about was zero — the number of wins his team captured in the Bay Area.
“I take full responsibility,” said Jones, who scored 23 points against Cal. “I had a chance to help my team win two games. I’m sorry for my teammates that they had to go through this.”
Jones was upset with himself that he didn’t end this game in regulation with one swooping shot. With less than 10 seconds to play in the second half, on a two-on-one fast break, Jones kept it himself and just missed a tough, one-handed floater in the lane.
“I should have hit that shot,” Jones said. “I thought I was close enough; I thought it was in.”
Cal head coach Ben Braun was on the other side of the court watching Jones’ drive and thinking thoughts that were:
“Unprintable,” he said.
Jones’ shot missed. In the first overtime, he was charged with an offensive foul on a drive, and he missed a free throw with 22.8 seconds left that would have put his team on top. He also missed a jumper at the buzzer that kept the score knotted at 89. The missed opportunities weighed heavily.
“I put that on my shoulders,” Jones said.
But these two losses were hardly Jones’ fault as the senior followed up his career-high 36 points on Thursday with an impressive 23 on Saturday, unlike last season’s Arizona trip where he dropped 36 one night and just four the next.
Jones left both the Cardinal and the Bears gushing over his ability.
“Freddie Jones is a terrific player,” Braun said. “He’s so dangerous. He’s explosive. He’s a tough match-up.
“He’s become an all-around player.”
What it comes down to for the Ducks are the bare facts: In close games on the road, they have lost. Oregon knows those aren’t the results that deliver teams Pac-10 titles.
There are still two more road games on the schedule for the Ducks, but those come on Feb. 28 and March 2 at the Los Angeles schools to close out the regular season. Until then, Oregon returns home to face the teams occupying the last three spots in the Pac-10 standings (Oregon State, Washington and Washington State).
“The schedule turns in our favor,” Kent said.
Kent has given his players three days off to regroup from the trip before resuming practice Wednesday to prepare for Saturday’s Civil War.
Jones, for one, doesn’t plan on wasting an opportunity to capture three wins in his final three games at the Pit and keep his team in the Pac-10 race.
“We’re still in the hunt,” Jones said. “We aren’t out of it one bit. We’re going back to a great crowd that will help get us motivated.”
And they’ve left a road that has included too many bumps.