Ducks' Comeback Razes Arizona

Oregon's second amazing comeback in three days sent the Pac-10 race into even further disarray, and made Arizona that much more desperate to get Loren Woods back.

Frederick Jones scored a career-high 27 points, and Oregon outscored Arizona 15-1 in the final 4:46 to hand the third-ranked Wildcats their second straight upset loss, 86-81 Saturday.

"It was just one of those grooves you get in," said Jones, who scored 16 second-half points to help the Ducks come back from 17 points down.

"We think we got lucky the other night, but tonight we just stuck with it," said Wright, who scored 15 points on 12-of-12 free throws. "It was our defensive intensity. Everybody stepped up and rotated correctly."

Alex Scales, who scored a career-high 31 points Thursday night, had 20 and hit two straight 3-pointers to begin the monumental comeback for the Ducks (21-7, 12-5 Pac-10).

Michael Wright scored a career-high 28 for Arizona (24-6, 13-3), but was held scoreless in the final 6 1/2 minutes as the Wildcats missed a chance to grab a share of the Pac-10 lead after Stanford lost to UCLA in overtime.

"We played 30 minutes of great basketball. Unfortunately, the game is 40 minutes long," said Arizona coach Lute Olson, whose team lost 70-69 at Oregon State on a 3-pointer at the buzzer Thursday night. "Oregon is the kind of team that is not going to quit. We had to play 40 minutes of tough basketball, and we kind of wilted."

Arizona, which played just seven players without 7-foot-1 center Woods, who's out ith an injured back until the NCAA tournament, had just one field goal in the last 11:15. A mid-range jumper and a free throw by Gilbert Arenas put the Wildcats ahead 80-71 with 4:46 left.

The Ducks chipped at the lead, and Jones dished to Scales for a layup that tied it at 80 with 1:10 left. Wright stole the ball from Arizona's Luke Walton and hit two free throws for an 82-80 lead, and two more from the line made it 84-81.

Arizona had a chance to tie in the final seconds, but Jason Gardner's leaning, desperate 3-pointer was off, and Jones rebounded with 2.6 seconds left. His free throws sealed it at 86-81.

"We had our lead, and we just tried to take time off the clock instead of shooting the ball. That hurt us," said Gardner, who had 22 points despite feeling ill. "We got too patient instead of going at them."

Arenas added 15 for the Wildcats, who were swept in Oregon for the first time since 1989-90. They had won 16 of their last 17 against the Ducks.

The Ducks clinched no worse than third in the Pac-10 by reaching 21 regular-season wins for the first time since 1944-45, when the team was 28-15.

The last time Oregon beat such a highly ranked team was Jan. 5, 1995, when it defeated No. 2 and eventual national champion UCLA 82-72.

That also was the last year the Ducks went to the NCAA tournament, a feat they're virtually assured of this season.

"What a fantastic victory," Oregon coach Ernie Kent said. "To have that kind of success against the No. 3 team in the nation, that will have some effect on the pairings. This will help us going into the postseason."

Oregon shot 24-of-25 from the line (96 percent), breaking the school record of 95 percent set in a win over Rice in December 1977.

The Ducks nearly blew it with two stretches of poor shooting and abysmal ball-handling, and the latter drought appeared to be fatal.

After pulling to 55-51, Oregon committed four turnovers and didn't score a point for more than two minutes. The Wildcats ran off 13 quick points, and a driving layup by Arenas put his team up 68-51.

But Arizona would get just two baskets after that a fallaway bank shot by Wright and Arenas' jumper.

The Ducks took a 36-28 lead on a dunk by Jones, but didn't hit a field goal in the last 5:10 of the first half. On its nine possessions during that stretch, all the Ducks got were two field goals after a technical foul was called on Arizona's Richard Jefferson, who shoved a group of fans during an altercation after he tumbled out of bounds going for a loose ball.

The Ducks had four turnovers and missed all three of their shots during the bad stretch, and Gardner scored five points during a 16-2 run, including a leaning 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left that made it 44-38 at the half.

The Ducks had their fast break going early and got a big lift when A.D. Smith entered the game four minutes in. Smith wasn't expeted to play until the postseason, but he wore a plastic mask to protect the left cheekbone he broke in a victory at Southern California last week.

Smith was in primarily to help guard Wright, but Smith hit two layups, and a 3-pointer by Jones gave Oregon an early 22-15 lead.

Jones, a sophomore, had his previous career high of 23 last season at Washington State.

Wright, also a sophomore, surpassed his high of 24 against New Mexico State last November.

©2000 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed