Ridnour Gives Oregon More

Oregon’s Luke Ridnour and Washington State’s Marcus Moore impressed each other with their performances.

And both wanted to talk about their opponent’s efforts instead of their own.

Ridnour’s career-high 24 points led No. 19 Oregon to a 94-86 victory over the Cougars on Saturday at Pullman, Wash., but he deflected questions about his play to praise Moore, who finished with a career-high 35 points.

“We’re just two competitive guys that came to play, to try to get our team a win,” Ridnour said.

“I really like his game,” Moore said of Ridnour. “He just goes out there and beats teams.”

James Davis had a career-high 21 points as the Ducks, 15-5 overall and 7-2 in conference, broke a late first-half tie and took control. Frederick Jones scored 14 points and had nine rebounds, and Luke Jackson had 11 points.

Washington State Coach Paul Graham said Davis, a 5-foot-10 sophomore reserve, may have been the difference.

“Our starters work hard and we know when we come in there, what our job is,” Davis said. “We have to hold up our end.”

Moore’s performance came as Washington State (4-14, 0-10) lost its 12th consecutive. Mike Bush scored nine points to become the 23rd player in school history to score 1,000 points.

Oregon Coach Ernie Kent was impressed with Moore’s effort, which bested his previous high of 31 points set this season against Idaho.

“He played at a different level. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him play at that level before,” Kent said. “He was just phenomenal.”

Ridnour went a point above his previous best of 23, set Thursday at Washington.

Oregon outrebounded the Cougars, 35-27, and made 52.8% of their shots from the field. Washington State continued its poor shooting streak, hitting only 47.7% from the field.

Ridnour scored 12 points in the first half as the Ducks went on a 13-4 run in the final six minutes to take a 43-34 halftime lead. The Ducks led by 21 points when Ridnour’s layup made it 73-52 midway through the second half.

Behind consecutive three-point baskets by Moore, the Cougars went on an 18-2 run to make it 75-70 with five minutes left, but the Ducks pulled away at the free-throw line.

“They were definitely being the aggressor,” Kent said of the Cougars’ comeback try. “They stepped it up, but then we took the wind out of their sails. We needed to regroup and we got stops down the stretch and we made our free throws down the stretch.”

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Oregon State 68, Washington 53--Philip Ricci scored 21 points and led two key runs for the Beavers as they defeated the Huskies at Seattle.

Oregon State, which made nine of 14 three-pointers, won its second consecutive conference game after losing six of its first seven.

Jimmie Haywood scored 11 points and made two three-pointers for Oregon State (10-9, 3-6), which has won five consecutive games in the series with Washington.

Doug Wrenn scored 19 points and David Dixon had his fifth double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Huskies (8-12, 2-8), who upset Oregon on Thursday.

There were four lead changes and four ties early.

Oregon State took the lead for good after a 14-2 run late in the first half that included a short jump shot, a jump hook and a three-point play by Ricci, who also finished with nine rebounds.

The Huskies missed their last seven shots of the first half and trailed, 32-24, at halftime.

Ricci scored seven points as the Beavers opened the second half with a 12-5 run to put the game away.

Combined with Thursday’s 74-72 victory over Washington State, the Beavers accomplished their first conference road sweep since defeating both of the Washington schools in 2000.