SoCal Hands No. 16 Oregon Its First Loss

Friday, January 5th 2007, 6:21 am

By: News On 6

Southern California ruined what would have been a special Saturday in Oregon. The Trojans handed No. 16 Oregon its first loss of the season Thursday night, two days before the Ducks host top-ranked and unbeaten UCLA.

At least Oregon went down in dramatic fashion.

Freshman center Taj Gibson had 18 points, 13 rebounds and seven blocks to lead Southern California to its 84-82 victory over Oregon, but it wasn't decided until the final 1.4 seconds.

Nick Young, who finished with 19 points, hit a jumper with 21 seconds left to give the Trojans (12-4, 2-1 Pac-10) an 83-81 lead. Oregon's Maarty Leunen was called for an offensive foul driving to the basket with 5 seconds left. Gabe Pruitt made one free throw for a three-point lead.

Aaron Brooks, who had 31 points for the Ducks (13-1, 1-1), was fouled taking a desperation 3-pointer with 1.4 seconds left. He made the first free throw, missed the second and then missed the third intentionally, but Oregon's Chamberlain Oguchi couldn't get a shot off before time expired.

``We were fortunate to win this game against a great basketball team,'' Southern Cal coach Tim Floyd said. ``I can see why they (were) undefeated. They are going to have a great chance to win this league.''

In other games involving ranked teams Thursday night, it was: No. 1 UCLA 71, Oregon State 56; No. 7 Arizona 96, No. 24 Washington 87; No. 10 Pittsburgh 74, Syracuse 66; Providence 74, No. 15 Marquette 59; and No. 22 Memphis 88, Cincinnati 55.

With Oregon down 81-75, Brooks hit his career-high sixth 3 with 1:33 left and Oguchi tied it with a 3 with 50 seconds to go.

The loss denied the Ducks a chance to tie the best start in school history.

``It was routine free throws at the end of the game,'' Brooks said. ``You have to hit the three to tie it up and go into overtime. (The second attempt) felt good, it just hit the back of the rim.''

The only Division I unbeatens are Clemson and UCLA.

Did the Ducks look past the Trojans in anticipation of the Bruins?

``No, not at all,'' Brooks said. ``We don't look ahead to nobody. It's our first Pac-10 (home) game. We wanted to send a message. We just didn't get it done at the end.''

Pruitt, who scored 30 points in the Trojans' win at McArthur Court last season, had 15 of his 18 points in the second half, while Young scored 17 in the second half when the Trojans shot 63 percent, including 6-of-10 on 3s.

``We had some guys play huge,'' Floyd said. ``Gibson's line is tremendous and this kid's been doing it all year long. He's a terrific young player.''

No. 1 UCLA 71, Oregon St. 56

Josh Shipp had 18 points to lead all five starters in double figures for the Bruins (14-0, 3-0 Pac-10) in their first road game of the season. Darren Collison had 11 points and six assists, and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute had 11 points and nine rebounds for UCLA, which shot 47 percent from the field (23-for-48) despite missing eight of its first 10 shots.

Sasa Cuic had 13 points and seven rebounds for the Beavers (8-7, 0-2).

No. 7 Arizona 96, No. 24 Washington 87

Freshman Chase Budinger scored 23 points and Marcus Williams and Jawaan McClellan both had 22 to lead the Wildcats (12-1, 3-0 Pac-10) to their 12th consecutive victory. McClellan's fifth 3-pointer of the game gave visiting Arizona a 90-86 lead with 3:37 remaining.

Quincy Pondexter matched his career high with 25 points for the Huskies (10-4, 0-3), who lost their third straight. He had scored 22 points in his three previous games combined. Washington went the final 4:25 without a field goal.

No. 10 Pittsburgh 74, Syracuse 66

Levance Fields scored a career-high 24 points for the Panthers (13-2, 1-0 Big East), who have won nine of their last 12 meetings with Syracuse and three of the last four in the Carrier Dome.

Eric Devendorf had 17 points for the Orange (11-4), who lost at home for the third time this season.

Providence 74, No. 15 Marquette 59

Herbert Hill had 23 points, nine rebounds and seven blocked shots to lead the Friars (11-3, 1-0 Big East), while Geoff McDermott had 11 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds, and Weyinmi Efejuku had 18 points and 10 boards.

Wesley Matthews scored 14 points for the visiting Golden Eagles (13-3, 0-1), who were 4-for-23 on 3-pointers.

No. 22 Memphis 88, Cincinnati 55

Senior Jeremy Hunt matched his career-high with 24 points, and freshman Willie Kemp added 21 to lead the Tigers (11-3), who scored the game's first 11 points and were up 31 at halftime.

Cedric McGowan had 20 points for the Bearcats (9-5), who were playing their first game on an opponent's home floor.