Cougs Catch Grief Ducks Pass Off Anguish In 3-Ot Win

Oregon’s heartbreak is over.

But it took awhile.

Three overtimes, handfuls of missed free throws, and 87 points. Four more than Washington State had in an 87-83 Ducks win at Friel Court on Thursday night.

The Ducks, losers of their last two games in the last seconds, were able to overcome the emotion of allowing Steve Slotemaker to send the game into its third overtime with a layup on an inbounds play with 4.7 seconds left and win their second Pac-10 game.

“This was huge for us,” said Oregon’s Frederick Jones, who finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds. “We knew coming in here this was a must win for us.”

The Cougars, on the other hand, continually victimized themselves with poor decisions, shot selection and free-throw shooting.

“The things that we can control took away from our productivity tonight,” said WSU coach Kevin Eastman, whose team has lost three straight games and is 7-8 overall and 1-3 in the Pac-10.

But somehow, even after trailing in the first two overtimes, they were able to hang in the game and continue to get chances to win.

The two best chances came at the line. Twice, once in regulation and once in the second overtime, the Cougars had a chance to take the lead at the freethrow line with less than 25 seconds remaining. Mike Bush, who was unable to take part in the shoot around earlier because of back spasms, missed the first two. Brian Stewart, who was 0 for 5 from the line for the game, missed the second two.

For the game, the Cougars were 23 of 43 from the line. Without Jan-Michael Thomas’ 12-for-14 shooting from the line, the Cougars were 11 of 29 from the line. The season low is 10 for 20 against Portland State.

“That’s a personal decision a player has to make,” said Eastman. “The personal decision is a sacrifice to come in 20 minutes early and 20 minutes late. Hopefully, we learned a lesson from that.”

In the third overtime, the Cougars had another chance. Not as good a chance, but a chance. With 32.3 seconds left, Oregon’s Yasir Rosemond only made one of two free throws left, giving the Ducks an 86-83 lead.

Washington State’s Chris Crosby, who was 2 for 14 (0 for 6 from behind the arc), got a good look from 22 feet.

Oregon, which shot 26 of 45 from the line, was able to connect on enough of its free throws down the stretch.

Ironically, it was a free throw that gave Oregon the momentum to carry the game into the first overtime.

With Washington State leading by four, 62-58, and in control at the 4:05 mark, Kojo Mensah-Bonsu was called for a technical foul after slamming the ball to the court in anger of a held-ball call. The officials awarded the ball to the Ducks after what Mensah-Bonsu and the Cougars perceived should have been their ball because the defense (WSU) forced the tie up.

Rosemond hit one of the two technicals. Then he followed with a 3-pointer to tie the game at 62. “That helped us out,” said Jones. “It helped us out a lot.”

“It was the heat of the moment,” said Mensah-Bonsu, who fouled out with 17 points and had to sit out the overtimes. “It was definitely something that I shouldn’t have done.”

After Crosby hit one of two, Mensah-Bonsu created in the lane and got a bucket and the foul. He missed the free throw.

The Ducks followed with three straight free throws to tie the game.

Both Thomas and Slotemaker had shots in close with less than 26 seconds left but were unable to connect. Bush then missed his free throws.

The Cougars had plenty of second chances both in the regulation and in the overtimes. But WSU was outrebounded 65 to 43 and that allowed Oregon’s post players to get plenty of putbacks and pick up fouls on the Cougar interior players.

“Foul outs caused depth problems and that became a little bit of a problem for us,” said Eastman, who also lost Eddie Miller to fouls in regulation.

The Oregon defense also was a factor. After allowing Thomas 17 first-half points, the Ducks’ Darius Wright held him to seven in the second half and only four in the overtimes.

“He was just face-guarding me,” said Thomas. “That was all he had to do, just stay with me the whole game and not let me get a look at the basket.”

“He knew how to use his hands,” added Eastman. “Right at the right times.”

The Cougars play host to Oregon State Saturday at 3 p.m.

Oregon 87, Washington St. 83, 3OT

Oregon (9-4, 1-3) - Smith 6-11 4-5 17, Scales 2-12 4-6 8, Carson 2-3 3-5 7, Wright 3-10 3-5 10, Jones 8-16 5-8 23, Harker 4-8 2-4 10, Rosemond 1-6 5-8 8, Quinine 0-1 0-0 0, Brown 1-5 0-2 2, McShane 0-0 0-0 0, Hartenstein 1-1 0-2 2. Totals 28-73 26-45 87.

Washington State (7-7, 1-2) - Mensah-Bonsu 6-11 5-11 17, Crosby 2-14 2-4 6, Miller 6-8 1-2 13, Pengelly 1-6 1-2 4, Thomas 6-17 12-14 28, Bush 0-3 0-2 0, Kazadi 0-3 0-0 0, Stewart 2-3 0-5 4, Slotemaker 4-5 2-3 11, Hutchens 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 27-72 23-43 83.

Halftime - Oregon 34, Washington State 34. Regulation - Oregon 65, Washington State 65. First overtime - Oregon 71, Washington State 71. Second overtime - Oregon 77, Washington State 77. 3-point goals - Oregon 5-26 (Jones 2-7, Smith 1-3, Rosemond 1-3, Wright 1-4, Brown 0-4, Scales 0-5), Washington State 6-24 (Thomas 4-10, Slotemaker 1-1, Pengelly 1-5, Bush 0-1, Hutchens 0-1, Crosby 0-6). Fouled out - Carson, Hartenstein, Mensah-Bonsu, Miller, Pengelly. Rebounds - Oregon 65 (Smith 14), Washington State 43 (Crosby 7). Assists - Oregon 14 (Wright 8), Washington State 14 (Pengelly 5). Total fouls - Oregon 30, Washington State 32. Technicals - Mensah-Bonsu. A - 4,177.