The early stages of the game started out promising for the Beavers as they were able to take a 7 to 0 lead on a Roberto Nelson three point field goal. On the other side of the ball the Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks did not score until about the 17:36 mark to cut into the OSU run to make it 7 to 2.
Beavs were able to play some aggressive and smart defense when it looked like the Hawks had a good chance to cut into the OSU lead. Oregon State was also able to exploit what looked to be a mismatch on the inside with a Collier three-point play pushing the lead up to 16 to 7. At this time the Beavs inside game was cruising with 12 of their 16 points from inside the paint.
It was a comfortable enough lead to allow for Craig Robinson to rotate a full reserve team onto the court with Hallice Cooke, Malcolm Duvivier, Olaf Schaftenaar, Jarmal Reid, and Daniel Goomis all playing minutes in the mid-section of the first half.
The game then turned into a 3-point contest with Schaftenaar hitting three in a row, but the Hawks countered with three of their own to keep the game close at 26 to 18. Angus Brandt broke this back-and-forth with two free throws to put the Beavs up 28 to 18 at the 8:05 mark.
From here the Beavs had issues with not getting back into a strong inside-outside game and with turnovers. The Hawks leading scorer Hakeem Baxter also finally got into the groove and with some three point plays brought Maryland-Eastern Shore to within three points, 28 to 25 at the 3:20 mark. Issac Smith III then hits a 3-point shot over Roberto Nelson to put the Hawks up by one 31 to 30. Oregon State regains some control over the game to go into the half up by one point (34 to 33).
In the first half Oregon State was led by Angus Brandt with 10 points and Devon Collier had 7 points. Roberto Nelson was held in check with 5 points. The Beavs shot 37% from the field , 4 for 9 from the 3-point arc, and hit 8 for 11 free throws. OSU was able to grab 22 rebounds but also turned it over 7 times. Maryland-Eastern Shore was led by Hakeem Baxter and Issac Smith III who both had 9 points, the Hawks shot 33% from the field going 6 for 11 from the 3-point arc and 5 for 6 from the free throw line; and UMES was able to match OSU with 21 rebounds and 7 turnovers.
The start of the second started with the Hawks playing tough and to a tie at 34, but OSU gets Nelson involved with the first Beavs score on a three-point play to put the Beavs up 37 to 34. Collier also then gets more involved on the offensive glass to score his own three-point play to go up up 40 to 34, and then scored on a dunk after a nice Challe Barton dribble drive to put the Beavs up 42 to 34 at the 17:16 mark.
Collier and the Beavs pushed the lead to ten points to be answered quickly by the Hawks with a long KyRee Jones 3-point jumper to then have Collier go back to work inside to push the lead back up to 49 to 40. Maryland-Eastern Shore cuts into the lead again, 49 to 42 at the 14:15 mark. Roberto Nelson then scores on a three-point play to push the lead back to ten points. The game at this time becomes a bit of a back-and-forth with the Hawks exploiting some defensive breakdowns by the Beavs, and Oregon State continuing to control the paint with some strong Angus Brandt scoring and rebounding. At the 12:32 mark Nelson answers a Hawks 3 point jumper with his own, to be followed a bit later by a Schaftenaar 3 point field goal of his own to push the Beavs lead to 61 to 49.
The Beavs are then able to really start to pull away after a Hallice Cooke steal and a smart assist from Collier to a cutting Daniel Goomis to extend the lead to 63 to 49. OSU takes full control of the game by being able to continue to pound the ball inside with Collier, which puts the Hawks into a catch up game where they start to force up tough shots. The Beavs inside mismatch increased with the Hawks center Francis Ezeiru fouling out at the 9:53 mark, which also opens the game up for more bench play as Nelson and Collier are both allowed some rest.
A Victor Robbins layup puts the Beavs up 77 to 51 at the 7:27 mark, and OSU gets more bench play as the Beavs push their lead to over twenty points; including some nice highlights from Langston Morris-Walker on a three-point play and from Hallice Cooke with a three point jumper that pushes the lead to 88 to 62 at the 3:07 mark. Freshman Malcolm Duvivier then adds in four of his seven total points in the last two minutes, and the Beavs are able to run the clock out for the 98 to 66 win.
In the end it was a game that the Beavs were able to grind the Hawks down as the second half progressed, but OSU did have some problems with the Hawks aggressive play on offense, and offensively the Beavs seemed to get away from their strong inside-outside game in the first half. But Oregon State is able to turn it around and outscore the Hawks 64 to 33 in the second half.
Oregon State goes 52% from the field including going 8 for 15 in 3 point FGs. The Beavs also shoot 20 for 30 from the free throw line, had 45 rebounds, and ended with 9 turnovers (including only two in the second half). On the other side Maryland-Eastern Shore goes 34% from the field including going 9 for 22 in 3 point FGs. The Hawks go 13 for 18 from the free throw line and had 38 rebounds and 14 turnovers. The leading scorers for Oregon State were Devon Collier with 24 points (and 12 rebounds) and Roberto Nelson with 20 points in his 24th game in a row in double digits, and Issac Smith III led the Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks with 13 points.
Oregon State goes to 5 and 2 overall with the win, and will play the Towson Tigers Wednesday night at 7:00pm; Towson handed the Beavs a 67 to 66 overtime loss last season.
2,404 fans showed up as winter break started, actually up 35 from Friday night's double-header.
Maryland-Eastern Shore slipped down to 2-5 for the season. The Hawks have now lost 3 in a row, 23 in a row on the road, and 26 straight non-conference road games, dating back over 3 years.