| 05 March 2011
In his final regular season game, Joevan Catron went out with a bang. His Oregon Ducks couldn't muster enough of a comeback to follow suit, falling 90-82. Behind the play of their senior forward, they put up a substantial fight against the 18th-ranked Arizona Wildcats, playing with a tremendous amount of energy and aggressiveness to make the McKale's centers 13,000-plus consistently nervous.
The Ducks, coming off a disappointing loss to Arizona State, needed to play their best basketball to have a chance. They had nothing to lose, and it showed. Free and easy from the start they hung with the Wildcats in the first half, largely due to their ability to create turnovers and hold Arizona's best player, Derrick Williams, in check. Oregon missed 17 of their 27 shots, but forced seven turnovers, five of which steals, and frustrated Williams, who had more fouls, three, than points at halftime.
Catron was behind their offensive success, scoring 12 points prior to intermission. He was a force inside and out, asserting himself offensively no matter where he was on the floor. He hit two three-pointers and made two baskets near the rim, and his success continued in the second half. Coming off a five-point performance against the Sun Devils he was playing angry, outperforming Williams in keeping his Ducks within striking distance. They were down by as much as seventeen early in the second half but wouldn't go away, trimming the deficit by taking advantage of Arizona's extended defense. Passing and driving lanes were open, and Oregon's eyes lit up a the sight of the Wildcats soft approach.
The Ducks had five straight baskets inside midway through the second half, two of which were rim-rattling dunks by Tyrone Nared, one of many Oregon players to feed off Catron's energy. They continued to score, and Catron accomplished one of his goals for this season, converting on a lefty hook for his 20th and 21st points, the 999th and 1,000th of his career. But the Ducks just couldn't get the stops they needed to get much closer than the eight-point deficit they were faced after this his milestone-reaching field goal.
Just like Catron's game, Arizona scored from the perimeter and in the paint, holding off every attempt by Oregon to chip away.
The Wildcats took care of the ball, received consistent production from Solomon Hill and Kyle Fogg, and benefited from Williams' late life. The Ducks shot 20-31 in the second half, yet only outscored the Wildcats by one, epitomizing their defensive struggles. Arizona scored 90 points for a reason. Their cold spells were short, and Williams slammed home the dagger with a little over two minutes left, making sure Arizona would finished undefeated at home for the first time since the 1998-99 season.
On the other side, Catron had a career-high 28 points for Oregon, a heavy underdog that gave everything they had. In loss they ended the season on a four-game losing streak, but they have no reason to hang their heads. They competed with the Pac-10's best, bouncing back from a defeat that was presumed debilitating to play with an uplifting amount of confidence and fight as the conference tournament nears.
photo: daylife
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