Wednesday, December 29, 1999
Even though Dave Odom's No. 19 Wake Forest team had just been upset in the Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic last night, he could only shake his head at the caliber of play he saw.
"That was a hard-fought, high-level basketball game played by two good teams," Odom said. "I'm disappointed we lost but I will not allow it to hurt us. Alex Scales hit a great shot and had a great game."
Scales, a 6-4 senior guard, scored 26 points and made an off-balance, double-pump 14-footer from the left of the key with four seconds left to give Oregon (7-1) a 67-66 heart attack win over the Demon Deacons at the Stan Sheriff Center.
"I slipped," Scales said. "But it went through. It was a blessing from the sky."
RAINBOW CLASSIC
Today's games: Consolation bracket: Villanova vs. Bradley, 11 a.m.; Ohio vs. Wake Forest, 1:30 p.m.; Semifinals: Gonzaga vs. Oregon, 5:30 p.m.; Hawaii vs. Colorado, 8 p.m.
The basket marked the ninth lead change of the second half.
"It was a play we had run five or six times during the course of the evening and had some success with," said Oregon coach Ernie Kent.
"Julius (Hicks) did a nice job of looking off a backdoor play and A.D. (Smith) did a nice job of screening for Alex. He had an opportunity to shoot the 3 but he put it on the floor and took it into the middle. Scales just made a great athletic play. I thought he had a tremendous game."
The Ducks have lost only to Cal State Northridge (79-77 on Dec. 11).
It was the second defeat for Wake Forest (8-2), which also lost to Georgia, 68-67, on Dec. 11.
"This team showed a lot of heart and a lot of character to grind it out," said Kent, whose team trailed, 38-32, at half time.
The Demon Deacons stretched it to 42-34 1:40 into the second half, but the Ducks went on a 16-6 run to take 50-48 lead.
The run was highlighted by Scales' six points and two assists. The assists were both to Darius Wright, whose three-point play with 9:25 left capped the run.
The Ducks had a 65-61 lead with 42 seconds left. But Robert O'Kelley sank one of two free throws after being fouled by Wright. Josh Shoemaker followed that with an offensive rebound and a layup, and O'Kelley made a driving layup to give Wake Forest the lead back with 16 seconds left.
That set up Scales' game-winner.
"We got 'em running in the first half and had some easy stuff in the open court, and they did a nice job defensively of slowing our transition," Kent said.
The game was tied eight times in the half before Wake Forest went on a 13-7 run going into the locker room.
"They put us in the half court," said Kent.
"And we talked about it at halftime, that if we could just hang in there and grind it out. And sure enough the game opened up and I think they may have gotten a little fatigued.
"We needed to get some looks in transition because they're so big all over the floor. Once we were able to open up the game and get that transition going again, the momentum shifted in our favor."
Wright had five turnovers in the first half but none in the second. Instead, he dished out five of his game-high nine assists and scored all five of his points to put Oregon ahead for the first time in the second half.
"I knew I was out there throwing the ball away and I thought that was the reason why we were down," Wright said.
Smith had 14 points and Freddy Jones added 13 (including a 3-pointer off the glass that gave Oregon a 56-54 lead with 4:35 left.
"This might be a window for us to jump through to get into the top 25," Scales said.
O'Kelley led the Demon Deacons with 20 points while Niki Arinze added 14.
Gonzaga 83, Ohio 55
The Bulldogs made quick work of the Bobcats, taking a 28-14 lead on a 10-0 first-half run and cruising thereafter. Richie Frahm hit eight of 13, including four of eight from behind the arc, to lead Gonzaga with 23 points.
Matt Santangello bounced back from a cold night against Cal and had 14. Zach Gourde added 12.
Oregon 67, Wake Forest 66
WAKE FOREST: Shoemaker 3-4 0-1 6, Arinze 6-6 2-5 14, Vidaurreta 3-3 0-0 6, Howard 1-3 3-4 5, O'Kelley 7-17 4-5 20, Hicks 1-6 0-0 2, Songaila 1-2 0-0 2, Scott 1-1 0-0 2, Dawson 3-7 2-2 9. Totals 26-49 11-17 66.OREGON: Smith 4-9 6-6 14, Scales 10-19 3-4 26, Hartenstein 0-0 0-0 0, Wright 2-8 1-2 5, Lindquist 1-3 0-0 2, Jones 3-7 6-7 13, Hicks 2-4 1-2 5, Christoffersen 0-1 0-0 0, Bracey 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 23-53 17-21 67.
Halftime--Wake Forest 38, Oregon 32. 3-Point goals--Wake Forest 3-17 (O'Kelley 2-7, Dawson 1-4, Howard 0-2, Hicks 0-4), Oregon 4-20 (Scales 3-8, Jones 1-5, Smith 0-1, Wright 0-6). Fouled out--Jones. Rebounds--Wake Forest 29 (Shoemaker 7), Oregon 26 (Smith, Scales, Hicks 5). Assists--Wake Forest 14 (Arinze 4), Oregon 15 (Wright 9). Total fouls--Wake Forest 18, Oregon 21. A--2,993.
Gonzaga 83, Ohio 55
GONZAGA: Calvary 3-5 3-4 9, Frahm 8-13 3-4 23, Dench 3-8 0-0 7, Nilson 1-3 3-3 5, Santangelo 5-10 1-2 14, Spink 3-3 0-0 6, Gourde 3-4 6-6 12, Gebbers 1-2 2-2 4, Floyd 0-1 1-2 1, Tricco 1-4 0-0 2. Totals: 28-53 19-23 83OHIO: Stonerook 4-11 0-0 9, Adell 2-10 4-4 8, Hunter 2-4 1-2 5, Reed 0-0 0-0 0, Jones 4-10 0-2 9, Howell 0-0 1-2 1, Ford 2-7 2-2 8, Crawford 2-5 2-2 7, Esterkamp 0-3 2-2 2, Flomo 0-2 0-2 0, McVicker 2-3 2-4 6. Totals: 18-53 14-22 55
Halftime--Gonzaga 49, Ohio 30. 3-Point goals--Gonzaga 8-20 (Frahm 4-8, Santangelo 3-6, Dench 1-3, Calvary 0-1, Floyd 0-1, Tricco 0-1), Ohio 5-26 (Ford 2-6, Jones 1-4, Stonerook 1-4, Crawford 1-4, McVicker 0-1, Esterkamp 0-3, Adell 0-4). Fouled out--Hunter. Rebounds--Gonzaga 36 (Dench 8), Ohio 31 (Stonerook 9). Assists--Gonzaga 17 (Santangelo 8), Ohio 12 (Jones 5). Total fouls--Gonzaga 23, Ohio 22.
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