Beavers Make History in Win over Howard

The Howard Bison (1-7) prevailed when they played Oregon State in their season opener in the nation's capitol earlier this season, but a repeat victory wasn't to be when the two teams met again Saturday night at Gill Coliseum.

After allowing Howard to only two points in the first ten minutes of the game, Oregon State (4-5) went on to defeat the Bison 90-54. The win demonstrates the improvement of the Oregon State program so far this season.

"We new that first game wasn't really the team that we are now" head coach Criag Robinson said after the game. "We didn't want to let any [thoughts of OSU and Howard's first game] come into the thought process of this game."

At halftime, Oregon State led 44-17 after shooting 61.5% in the half. The Beavers did get off to a slow start, though, only converting on one of their first seven field goals. Calvin Haynes led the Beavers with 17 points in the first half, Omari Johnson added 14.

The Beavers hit a school record 14 three-pointers in the game, in 20 attempts, for 70 percent. Oregon State was 34 of 53 on field goals in the game (64.2%), their highest mark this season.

Sophomore Omari Johnson led the team with 18 points in 29 minutes. Ricky Claitt added 15 points, and was a perfect 3-3 from three-point range. He hit three consecutive shots from the perimeter late in the game, the final of which broke the school's single game record for team three-pointers.

Off the bench, Lathen Wallace scored 16 points, a season high. Calvin Haynes contributed 17 to the effort in his role as the sixth man. Haynes has played in less games than most of his teammates due to an academic suspension, but he has scored over 14 points in each of his three games. He leads the team with 17 points per game.

Howard was led by Eugene Myatt, who scored 13 points. He also scored 13 points when these two teams met on November 14. Six-foot-nine center Paul Kirkpatrick added nine points for the Bison. Howard shot just 34.5 percent from the field, and 22.7 percent from beind the arc. 

The Beavers will get several days off to spend time with their families before returning to practice on Dec. 25. The team will be back in action when they play Seattle on Dec. 29 at 7:00 PM. The game will be televised on FSN.

--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)