Pacific 10 Roundup : Oregon Surprises Washington, 70-66

Center Blair Rasmussen, who sat out 13 minutes of the game because of fouls, scored 22 points to lead Oregon to a 70-66 upset of Washington in a Pacific 10 Conference basketball game at Eugene, Ore., Thursday night.

The defeat seriously damaged Washington’s hopes for the league title. The loss left the Huskies (17-8 overall) with an 8-5 conference record. Oregon is 11-13, 4-7.

Oregon owed as much to its second-half defense as to the shooting of Rasmussen. The Ducks allowed only two second-half points from Husky center Chris Welp, who had scored 15 points in the first half, and they limited Washington star, Detlef Schrempf, to nine points in the game.

Washington led for much of the first half until Rasmussen’s replacement, freshman Keith Balderston, gave Oregon a 26-25 lead on a basket with 3:32 to play in the half.

Oregon never trailed again.

Oregon St. 69, Washington St. 49--A.C. Green scored a game-high 29 points at Corvallis, Ore., to help keep Oregon State in the Pac-10 championship race.

Center Steve Woodside added 17 points and 11 assists for the Beavers (18-4 overall and 8-3 in conference play).

Forward Otis Jennings led Washington State with 18 points. The Cougars dropped to 11-11, 3-9.

The Oregon State victory may have been costly. Starting forward Dean Derrah left the game late in the first half with a torn abdominal muscle. He will be out of action for at least a week, it was announced.