Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | T | The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)

Ducks' drive takes two steps back.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Bob Clark The Register-Guard

It came down to what it has too often this season for Oregon - a turnover here, a missed free throw there - and it came out a familiar result Saturday at McArthur Court as the Ducks dropped a 58-56 decision to Stanford.

`It seems like it's occurring too much,' Oregon's Aaron Brooks said. `We're not finishing games, we're blowing leads ...'

Yep, all that. The Ducks led by as many as eight points in the second half, and had their last lead at 56-54 when Brooks hit two free throws with 3:39 left.

And that was it. Oregon didn't score another point on its final five possessions and the Cardinal knotted the game on two free throws by Jason Haas, his only points, with 1:11 left and then won it on a 10-foot jumper in the key with 14 seconds remaining by Matt Haryasz, who led all scorers with 18 points and also had 10 rebounds.

`We just ran one of our normal plays,' Haryasz said, which finished with him shooting over Oregon's Maarty Leunen. `I just let her go.'

Oregon had seen the play run often by Stanford, and had practiced against it, knowing the primary options were either Chris Hernandez or Haryasz ending up with the shot. The only difference was the Ducks expected Haryasz to drive all the way to the basket....