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LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- It took a little while, but Oregon dispatched Washington in familiar fashion. Luke Jackson matched a career high with 29 points and the ninth-ranked Ducks used a barrage of 3-pointers to rally for an 86-64 victory over the Huskies in the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 Conference tournament. "We are a good shooting team," Oregon coach Ernie Kent said. "In fact, we are the No. 1 3-point shooting team in the country and third overall." "We all read what they had said in the papers and believed that we had a lot more to show this team," Jackson said. "We really didn't play our best game against them before." On February 23, Oregon (23-7) knocked off Washington, 90-84, making 12-of-19 shots from 3-point range and avenging a loss in January. The second half of this game looked very much like the last meeting. The Pac-10 regular-season champions for the first time since 1945, the Ducks trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half before Luke Ridnour made a 3-pointer to close the half and cut the deficit to 42-35. That proved a sign of things to come in the second half, when Oregon made eight 3-pointers. Overall, it shot 11-of-26 from the arc and ran away from Washington (11-18). "You have to be good for 40 minutes," Huskies coach Bob Bender said. "You have to do things at a very high level, and we played really well for the first 20 minutes. The second 20, the things that we had done so well were not there on a consistent basis." Frederick Jones overcame a fever and the flu to score 15 points for the Ducks, who will face Southern California in Friday's semifinals. "Just as long as I'm ready for game time," Jones said. "I can be sick at any other time, but at game time, I need to be ready to play." "We like the matchup with SC," Kent said. "They make you play a half-court game and force you to speed downcourt and use your skill. We feel that we are a skillful team and can use that to our benefit." After a 12-minute delay to fix a problem with the shot clock, the Ducks wasted no time displaying their skill in the second half. Jackson and Jones hit 3-pointers and another by Jackson cut the deficit to 45-44 with 15:22 to go. A steal and breakaway dunk by Jones gave Oregon the lead for good at 47-45. With the Ducks holding a 55-51 lead, 6-10 center Mark Michaelis banked in a 3-pointer from the top of the circle. That seemed to deflate the Huskies, who got no closer than six points thereafter. Jones quickly added a three-point play, and a 3-pointer by Jackson triggered a 9-0 burst in less than a minute, giving the Ducks a 77-57 lead with 6:12 remaining. "Their transition game is phenomenal," Washington forward Doug Wrenn said. "They just get it and they go. They finish, and they know where everybody is at." Jackson made 9-of-17 shots, including 4-of-8 from the arc, as he matched his career high set earlier this season vs. California. Ridnour scored 11 points for the Ducks, who shot 45 percent overall (29-of-64). David Dixon scored 12 points and Erroll Knight added 10 for the Huskies, who shot 42 percent (26-of-62), including 5-of-9 from the arc. |
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