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Oakland of Michigan ends Oregon home win streak
By The Associated Press
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 12:15 PM PST
EUGENE — Johnathon Jones scored a career-high 32 points, including 10 in overtime, to lead Oakland of Michigan to an 82-79 victory over Oregon Monday night.
Erik Kangas added 18 points for the Golden Grizzlies (1-1), who ended the Ducks (1-1) 16-game nonconference winning streak at McArthur Court, dating back to a 54-52 loss to Portland State on Dec. 27, 2005.
Jones made 13-of-23 shots, none bigger than a baseline fade-away jumper over Oregon’s Drew Wiley with eight seconds left in OT to put his team up 82-77.
The junior guard also had seven rebounds. LeKendric Longmire scored a career-high 18 points all in the first half for the Ducks, who couldn’t get coach Ernie Kent the school record of 213 wins.
Kent, in his 12th season at his alma mater, is tied with Howard Hobson, the college basketball Hall of Famer who had 212 wins from 1935-1947 and included a win in the first NCAA national championship in 1939 against Ohio State.
Tajuan Porter made three free throws with six seconds left in regulation to make it 68-68 and Oakland’s Blake Cushingberry missed a jumper at the buzzer to send it into overtime.
Kangas opened the extra session with a three-point play and Jones made a pair free throws to give the Grizzlies a 73-68 lead. Garrett Sim hit a 3-pointer for the Ducks to make it 73-71, but Jones scored six of Oakland’s next seven points to put the Grizzlies up 80-74 with 1:04 left.
Sim hit another 3-pointer with 44 seconds left to pull the Ducks to within a basket, 80-77. Jones answered at the other end with his shot over Wiley, who had an eight-inch height advantage.
A pair of free throws by Porter with 2.2 seconds left were the final points.
Last season Oakland beat the No. 23 Ducks 68-62 at The Palace at Auburn Hills, Mich., for its first win against a top-25 team in school history. This time, the Grizzlies trailed 46-41 at halftime but opened the second half on 10-0 run to go up 51-46 by the 16:41 mark.
But Porter answered with his fourth 3-pointer of the game, Churchill Odia hit another and the Ducks were off on an 11-3 run that gave them a 57-54 advantage with 10:54 to play.
A trend was started, as the Grizzlies went on a 9-0 run with Jones getting a pair of baskets during that stretch for a 63-57 lead.
Again the Ducks answered, scoring eight straight to take a 65-63 lead with 1:32 remaining on a putback by Odia. Oregon still couldn’t put it away it, as Kangas and Cushingberry made five free throws in the final minute for a 68-65 lead before Porter tied at it at the end.
Porter finished with 17 points for Oregon, while Michael Dunigan added 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Joevan Catron had 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Arizona 75, Florida Atlantic 62
TUCSON, Ariz. — Chase Budinger scored 21 points and Nic Wise added 19 points and nine assists, and Arizona opened the post-Lute Olson era with a 75-62 victory over Florida Atlantic in the NIT Season Tip-Off on Monday night.
The 74-year-old Olson suddenly retired in October, ending his 24-season reign in the desert. With interim coach Russ Pennell on the bench and hundreds of empty seats in McKale Center, Arizona fell behind 15-7 before rallying to take a 24-22 lead on Budinger’s driving dunk with 6 minutes to play in the first half. The Wildcats didn’t trail again.
Paul Graham III scored 23 points for the Owls (1-1), who were without senior forward Carlos Monroe, their all-time leading rebounder and the No. 5 scorer in school history. He is dealing with eligibility issues. |