Mayhem almost erupted in Corvallis last night, as the Beavers got arguably their best chance for a Pac-10 win against the Ducks on Sunday night. With 3:30 left in regulation, the Beavers trailed the Ducks by only three points, and had even held a lead at the 17:25 mark. But with time ticking nearer and nearer to zero, the Ducks went on a 12-3 run during the last 3:07 of the game. The Ducks went on to win by the score of 80-68.
Any hopes of a Beaver victory seemed to fade when the referees called an offensive foul on Ricky Claitt on a fast break late in the second half. Whether it was a foul or not is debatable, but when you're 0-15, it's hard to get calls to go your way. From that point the Ducks took control, and the Beavers had no answer for Maarty Leunen, Catron, Taylor, and others.
The loss moves the Beavers to 0-16 in Pac-10 play. The 0-18 verdict is likely to come next Saturday at Arizona State, unless the Beavers find a way to shock the world and upset either Arizona on Thursday or the Sun Devils on Saturday.
The Beavers actually had some high scorers in this one.... Lathen Wallace led the team with 18 points coming off the bench. Marcel Jones was right behind with 17, and Calvin Haynes had 16. The Beavers aren't used to seeing that much production out of three guys, and it showed by the way they hung around for most of the game. Every other Beaver had less than five points.
It should be noted that Joey McConnell, who had only played in four games prior to the Civil War, started and played 24 minutes. McConnell, out of Madras High School in Central Oregon has become a "practice player" the last few years. It's nice to see Coach Mouton reward Joey for his loyalty to the program with a start at home in one of the biggest games of the year. He scored 2 points on the night, and now has 4 on the season.
Again, next up for the Beavers are Arizona and Arizona State. After that, it's off to the Staples Center for the Pac-10 tournament.
GO BEAVERS!
--JB--