After a thrilling week for the Oregon State men's basketball team, a hangover wasn't out of the realm of possibility in Monday night's non-conference finale against Cal State Bakersfield. The Roadrunners gave Oregon State all they wanted-- hitting 12-of-21 three-point baskets, but eventually faded down the stretch as the Beavers prevailed for their ninth win of the season, and Craig Robinson's ninth win at Oregon State.
Cal State Bakersfield, who falls to 5-15 on the loss, was hoping to get their first signature win at the Division I level. The Roadrunners are in the middle of a transition phase from Division II to Division I Athletics.
"I'm really proud of our kids," said Bakersfield Head Coach Keith Brown. "We showed great basketball I.Q. tonight. It was a great effort against a team that had just beat Cal and Stanford on the road."
Oregon State got yet another great performance from point-center Roeland Schaftenaar, who was dubbed Pac-10 player of the week earlier in the day. He had 20 points to lead all scorers in the game, as well as eight rebounds and three assists. Calvin Haynes added 19, and was 5-of-7 from behind the arc.
Cal State Bakersfield's three-point shooting is what kept them in the game-- they were 5-of-10 in the first half, and 7-of-11 in the first half. Guard Alex Johnson had six of those baskets, and finished with 19 points in the game. Oregon State dominated the Runners in many other statistical categories, (13-5 on the offensive glass, 14-4 on second chances, 32-18 in the paint, etc.) but the fact that CSUB made more three-point baskets than two-point baskets was a large factor.
The Beavers were definitely suffering from fatigue in the game, as they just arrived home from a thrilling Bay Area road trip the day before the game. Oregon State will now take an NCAA-mandated day off on Tuesday before going back to work at practice in preparation for the Oregon Ducks in the Civil War. Here's Coach Rob. after the game:
"You saw a fatigued group of guys out there. That's why I wasn't going crazy over on the sideline, because they are exhausted and rightly so. It's been one heck of a week for these guys and I was so proud that given how tired they were, they were just sticking with what we do. I am so happy they were tough enough to gut this game out given the fatigue factor."
The Civil War will be played on Saturday at 4:30 at Gill, with a sellout crowd expected.
Get your tickets while you still can!
--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)