Ducks Drop Game To Cal
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By ANNE M. PETERSON
AP Sports Writer
EUGENE, Ore. - Pacific-10 Conference scoring leader Joe Shipp had 23 points as California rebounded from a halftime deficit to beat Oregon 86-75 Saturday night.
Brian Wethers added 21 points and Amit Tamir had 18 for California, ranked second in the Pac-10 behind No. 2 Arizona.
The Golden Bears (16-4, 9-2) were coming off an 84-71 victory over Oregon State that snapped a two-game losing streak.
Oregon, coming off a 79-64 victory over No. 25 Stanford, was stymied by Cal's defense and had trouble making shots after holding a narrow 36-34 advantage at the half.
Luke Ridnour had 19 points and seven assists for the Ducks (16-6, 6-5), who suffered a rare loss at McArthur Court.
The Ducks went more than six minutes without scoring in the second half and couldn't recover. Cal, meanwhile, went on a 11-0 run, capped by Richard Midgley's free throws that made it 64-48 with 6:10 to go.
Ridnour's 3-pointer to make it 71-65 with 2:46 left was the closest Oregon would get. The Ducks shot just 36.8 percent from the floor in the second half.
The Ducks trailed until midway through the first half, when Ridnour's 3-pointer gave them a 15-13 lead.
Cal closed the gap to within 18-17 on Tamir's first basket of the game with 9:29 to go in the half.
Oregon built their biggest lead of the game, 30-22, on Andre Joseph's steal and 3-pointer, but California kept it close. Joseph and Wethers alternated on four straight 3-pointers as time wound down, and Oregon held only a slim advantage at halftime.
Shipp tied it at 43 before Wether's jumper put the Golden Bears ahead 45-43 to open the second.
Oregon has lost just two games at McArthur Court over the past two seasons. The Ducks lost at home to Arizona on June 2.
Cal, with a 9-2 conference mark, is off to its best Pac-10 start since 1993-94, when the Bears also went 9-2.
