The Beavers closed up the Duel in the Desert with a 64-60 loss against the Texas Tech Red Raiders. The Beavers had a sloppy first ten minutes, but sharp shooting and tough defense got the Beavers back into the game. The game was played on a sunny Sunday afternoon in Lubbock, in front of 7,860 people at United Spirit Arena.
Seth Tarver lead the Beavers with 17 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 steals.
Joe Burton had 15 points, 9 rebounds, and 1 steal. Roeland Shcaftenaar had 13 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals.
Oregon State got up 4-0 before Tech rolled off 11 straight points to take the lead 11-4. The Beavers would get down by as many as 14 points at 27-13, before rolling off 11 straight of their own to cut the Red Raider lead to three. But Mike Davis hit a three pointer for Pat Knight's club with one second left in the half to send the Beavers to the locker rooms down six.
The Beavers relied heavily on their veterans throughout the game, with Seth Tarver playing 38 minutes along with Roeland and Calvin Haynes playing 33.
For the Red Raiders, John Roberson lead the way minutes-wise, with 39. David Tairu lead Texas Tech with 19 points, followed by Mike Singletary with 15. The Red Raiders came into this game with a record of 2-0 after beating South Dakota and Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Friday and Saturday.
Freshman Angus Brandt recorded 6 points, along with 1 rebound and 1 block. The other Freshman, Jared Cunningham, had 2 points, 3 rebounds, and 1 steal.
The other two freshman, Rhys Murphy and Roberto Nelson, are out because of an injury and an NCAA Clearinghouse issue.
Texas Tech outscored the Beavers in the Points off Turnovers category, 26-20. However, the Beavers did outscore the Wolves 17-11 in the 2nd Chance Points category.
The win came just hours after the Women's Soccer team defeated the Florida Gators in Columbus, by a final score of 1-0 in overtime.
The 2nd Half went back and forth for a while, with both teams playing some great Basketball. The Beavers finally took a 46-45 lead with 6:50 left in the half, and after that it was anyone's game. The Beavers got down 62-57 with 10 seconds left, and when all seemed lost, the Red Raiders commited an Intentional Foul on Joe Burton. But Joe could only make one free throw, and Tech held on for the 4 point victory.
The Beavers finished third in the Duel in the Desert, with Texas Tech claiming the top prize. Seth Tarver was named to the All-Tournament team and David Tairu was named the MVP.
As far as the crowd goes, the Tech students were loud at times, which I thought was nice after playing in front of small crowds the last two nights. Todd Mansfield and Lamar Hurd were estimating about 35 people in the stands for the last two games.
Next up for the Beavers is their Home Opener against Sacrament State, Saturday at 12:05 PM in Corvallis, Oregon.
Seth Tarver lead the Beavers with 17 points. (Photo by OSU athletics)