Ducks pull out another overtime win at Washington State, 79-77

PULLMAN, Wash. -- Beasley Coliseum has been pretty good to the Oregon Ducks in recent years, even if the games occasionally had interesting endings. From Malik Hairston's two three-pointers in the final seconds in 2006, to Maarty Leunen's two free throws with 0.5 on the clock to force overtime in 2007 to the last-second technical on the Cougars bench that led to another Oregon overtime win in 2009, the programs have often played tight contests here.

Add Saturday's 79-77 Oregon overtime victory to the list for two reasons. It was close and it had an interesting, if not odd, finish.

The 23rd-ranked Ducks had rallied from an 18-point first-half deficit to lead down the stretch.

WSU tied it with a DaVonte Lacy three-pointer with 8.5 seconds left and survived two Oregon shots -- including an E.J. Singler follow that bounced twice on the rim -- to send the game to overtime.

The Ducks, who have won five consecutive times against WSU and eight consecutive overtime contests between the two, broke on top in the extra period and led by three as time ran down.

But guard Royce Woolridge, who finished with 36 points, 16 more than his previous career high, connected on a 25-footer over Johnathan Loyd to tie it at 77-77 with 6.9 seconds left.

Loyd took the inbound pass and passed it to Singler, who looked to attack from near half-court. Before he could, however, the Cougars' Dexter Kernich-Drew grabbed him and was called for the obvious foul with 3.8 seconds left.

"Ya, I was shocked," admitted Singler, who swished both free throws. "I think some of the (Cougars) were calling 'foul,' so I don't think they knew what the score was."

When Woolridge's three-quarter court heave fell harmlessly away at the buzzer, the Ducks had raised their record to 21-5 and remained atop the Pac-12 at 10-3.

"There have been some crazy games up here," said Singler who, like the rest of the Ducks, caught fire in the second half, scoring 20 of his team-high 25 after a spirited locker room discussion. "The bottom line, we weren't playing that hard (in the first half).

"Coach brought us in at halftime and got after us and the seniors stood up and said stuff."

Whatever was said, worked.

Though Singler had his usual productive game against the last-place Cougars (11-15, 2-11) -- he's averaged 22.3 points against WSU the last three matchups -- it was Carlos Emory who supplied the boost the Ducks needed to rally.

"Maybe the biggest play was Carlos' steal," coach Dana Altman said. "It was probably as big a play as anything."

Altman was referring to a steal and breakaway dunk that gave the Ducks a 75-72 lead early in overtime. It was part of Emory's career-high 20 points in 26 foul-limited minutes.

Everyone had to switch roles a bit when starting center Tony Woods was ejected halfway through the first half for a flagrant foul, which replays showed was a high elbow. Altman said he hadn't seen the play and wasn't sure if there would be more ramifications.

"When Tony got (ejected) that kind of shocked us a little bit," Singler said. "That kind of mixed us up a little bit and got us out of our groove."

The Ducks trailed by six when Woods was ejected and WSU immediately went on a 16-4 run to build its biggest lead, 35-17 with 3 minutes until half.

Trailing by nine at half -- Oregon was down 10 at half against the Cougars in its 67-61 win in Eugene three weeks ago -- the Ducks opened the second half with a 17-5 run to lead 44-43. From there, no one led by more than five the rest of the way.

--Vince Grippi, special to The Oregonian

Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/index.ssf/2013/02/ducks_pull_out_another_overtim.html

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