Mar 18, 2007, 15:40 GMT
Spokane, WA - For the Winthrop Eagles, the seventh time's the charm as the team rolls into the second round of the 69th annual NCAA Tournament and will meet up with the Oregon Ducks this afternoon at Spokane Memorial Arena.
On Friday the 11th-seeded Eagles, who had been ushered out of the tournament after just one appearances in each of their six previous trips to the postseason, caused quite a stir as they upset the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 74-64. The win was the 19th in a row for the nationally- ranked Eagles, who streaked through Big South Conference play without a single setback and went on to earn the automatic bid to the tourney with a win over VMI in the league tournament.
As for the third-seeded Ducks, who won the very first NCAA Tournament back in 1939 versus Ohio State, they have the best record after 34 games in program history at 27-7. However, getting to this point was far from easy even after the Ducks captured the Pac-10 Conference Tournament title with an 81-57 blowout of USC. Assuming it would be an easy game, perhaps Oregon took 14th-seeded Miami-Ohio too lightly in the first round on Friday, because the squad had to hang on for the narrow 58-56 victory to move on.
With respect to the all-time series between these two schools on the hardwood, Oregon won the only previous meeting between the squads with a 71-56 triumph at McArthur Court back in December of 2004. The winner of this contest will be meeting the winner of the UNLV/Wisconsin battle in the regionals this coming week.
In addition to limiting Notre Dame to a meager 4-of-22 shooting from three-point range two days ago, the Eagles benefited from the Fighting Irish making a mere 4-of-13 at the free-throw line. Craig Bradshaw led all scorers with 24 points, shooting 10-of-16 from the field, and he added six rebounds and four assists for the Eagles, while Torrell Martin registered a double-double with 20 points and 11 boards. Although he finished with just six points on 1-of-10 shooting from the field, Michael Jenkins accounted for a game-high 11 assists and he grabbed seven rebounds. Despite the lackluster scoring effort, Jenkins is still the leading scorer for the Eagles this season with his 15.0 ppg and is second in the assists department with 108. Martin, who is shooting 50.7 percent from the field but only 62.5 percent at the free-throw line, chips in 14.5 ppg, while Bradshaw contributes 13.6 ppg and 6.3 rpg. Defensively, Winthrop has managed to hold opponents to just 61 ppg this season, on 40.8 percent shooting from the field.
Two and a half minutes into the game against Miami-Ohio, the Ducks found themselves trailing 9-0, but before the RedHawks had a chance to enjoy they're advantage it quickly turned into a 20-9 deficit with just over eight minutes to play in the first half. In the second half it was time for Oregon to sweat a bit as it built a 54-43 advantage with 4:58 to play, but then had to hold on for the two-point win. The Ducks were paced by Aaron Brooks who tallied 18 points, although he shot just 6-of-15 from the field and missed all four of his three-point tries. Bryce Taylor and Maarty Leunen contributed 14 and 13 points, respectively, for a squad that recorded just four offensive rebounds but also turned the ball over a mere five times. With all five starters averaging double digits in scoring this season, the Ducks seem to have all the pieces in the right places this season, with Brooks producing 17.6 ppg, adding a team-best 140 assists and four and a half rebounds per outing. Taylor contributes 14.8 ppg, Tajuan Porter 14.2 ppg, Maarty Leunen 10.9 ppg and 8.4 rpg. The team is putting up 75.9 ppg and is one of the top free-throw shooting squads in the nation at 75.5 percent.
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