LeKendric Longmire's 17 pints and 10 rebounds fulfilled a pregame promise he made to Tajuan Porter that he would post a double-double and lead the Oregon Ducks to a 74-66 win over the Washington State Cougars in the final Pac-10 conference game scheduled for McArthur Court and the last home game for the senior guard.
Three other players - including Porter with 12 - struck for double digits in the scoring column as Oregon pulled away from a two point halftime lead to claim a sweep of the regular season series with the Cougars. With the win the Ducks avoided a second straight last place conference finish, relegating Washington State into the cellar for the seventh time in the past 12 seasons. Although tied with Stanford at 7-11 in the conference standings a sweep of the Ducks by the Cardinal means these same two teams will meet in the play-in game of the Pac-10 Conference tournament next Wednesday in Los Angeles.
The Ducks led nearly wire-to-wire, falling behind by two midway through the opening half, then again by a point a minute later. Porter and E.J. Singler (15 pts.) combined for four straight three point plays - the last by Singler of the "and-one" variety to push Oregon's lead quickly to nine.
Porter and Michael Dunigan each hit short jumpers to extend the lead to double digits then another Porter trey gave the Ducks a 15 point cushion.
Oregon twice was able to expand their advantage to 17 points, the last at the 4:27 mark. Using full court pressure, Washington State rallied to within seven as the game approached its last minute, but Longmire's tip-in and a pair of Singler free throws put the Cougars away.
Most of the post game conversation centered on Porter, the four year starter who ignited Oregon's elite eight run in his freshman year with his outside shooting. Although the Ducks returned to the NCAA tournament the following season, his past two seasons have seen the Ducks fall to the lower end of the conference standings.
As a result, the future of head coach Ernie Kent was also a topic of conversation although Kent chose not to address the subject directly when asked about a report by KVAL television he had been informed he would not be retained after the season ends.
Athletic Director Mike Bellotti also refused to comment directly on the report, stating "Ernie and I have talked and we will continue to talk."
Longmire and Porter both offered their unqualified support of the embattled coach, each eloquently stating their respect and affection for the program's most successful coach.
"He deserves to come back and we fully support him," said Porter. "I love him to death - he's an unbelievable coach. He's a strong man and has always come back and never given up on us."
Longmire offered that "we care about Coach a lot, he's a great guy, and we want to see him here. He's helped us grow as both players and men. He's been there for me, he relates to us. He's like a father figure to us and that means a lot to me."
"We played a good game defensively," said Kent. "I think offensively we had some of the same woes we've had before where you saw us miss some shots and you saw us leave some basketball plays on the floor. But we talked about in the huddles and we talked about it at halftime just in terms of keeping your calm and keeping your composure. Eventually your are going to make some plays and make some shots. Defensively we were really focused on the game and then we had an opportunity in the second half where there was just a little spurt there to take the game over."
Looking ahead to the tournament, Kent said "Our March Madness starts on Wednesday and we are aware of that. If we win we continue to play and who knows maybe get ourselves to a championship game. If we don't go to a NCAA tournament we're back here for an NIT or a CBI - you never know, so maybe there is another game sitting here somewhere."
