It took the Beavers nearly thirty minutes to gain a sizeable advantage against the Ducks in the 330th Civil War at Gill Colsieum, but the Beavers rallied down the stretch of the rivalry game to win 57-54.

Trailing by three with thirteen minutes left, Rickey Claitt and Calvin Haynes hit back-to-back three point baskets to give Oregon State a three point lead. Then, it was Roeland Schaftenaar's left-handed layup on Oregon State's next possession that gave Oregon State a five point lead. 

Roeland, the Pac-10 Player of the Week, dealt with foul trouble in the first half and was scoreless at halftime. He scored five points in the game-- two coming on the left-handed layup, and the final three coming on a 25-foot banked-in three with just over two minutes in the game, which gave the Beavers a comfortable cushion down the stretch. 

Without that crucial three-pointer, the Beavers may have handed the game to the Ducks with their miserable late-game free throw shooting. The Beavers were 9 of 19 on the game from the charity stripe, and just 1 of 7 in the final 1:20 of the game. 

"We missed so many foul shots down the stretch that could have salted this thing earler, but that's part of a rivialry game," Coach Robinson said after his tenth victory as Oregon State head coach. "There was a lot of pressure."

Indeed. Nobody in the Oregon State locker room had won a Civil War game, the players or coaches. 

"All I've heard since April were things like "Coach, you don't have to win any other games, just win the Civil War"," Coach Rob said. "I was feeling the pressure this week."

A crowd of 10,129 certainly helped the Beavers cause, even if it the surplus did cause some jitters for the players and coaches in the early part of the game. The attendence was just a few hundred spectators short of capacity, but the largest crowd since Febuary 5, 2005, against Oregon when the Beavers defeated the Ducks, 76-72, in front of 10,312.

Former Beaver great David Lucas had 22 points in that game, one of just five Civil Wars the Beavers have won since 1995. He was in attendance tonight, along with other former Beavers like Lamar Hurd, who was the color commentator on the FSN broadcast.

AC Green, the Beaver great from the 80's who won 3 NBA titles and scored 9.6 points per game over his 15-year professional career, was also at the game. He was arguably the Beavers' biggest cheerleader, leading the Gill Coliseum crowd from his front-row vantage point. 

"It's a treat to be a part of this resurgence for [the former players], becuase I know they remember when this program used to be something," Coach Robinson said.

Calvin Haynes led the Beavers with fifteen points, four of his five field goals coming from three-point range. It was his eleventh double-digit scoring performance in the fourteen games he's played in this season. Omari Johnson, who missed four free throws in the final stretch of the game, turned in a Pac-10 game high with 14 points on the night. Four of his five field goals came from three point range as well, with perhaps his biggest coming as time expired in the first half to cut the halftime deficit to five, providing the Beavers with a spark to ignite their second half run.

Oregon State will get Sunday off before beginning preparation for the second half of the Pac-10 season. Arizona will be at Gill for a Thursday night game, followed by Arizona State on Saturday.

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