A glance at the linescore nearly tells you the story of Saturday's 54-52 Oregon State victory over Washington State at Friel Court.
| Score | 1st | 2nd | Total |
| Oregon State | 20 | 34 | 54 |
| Washington State | 32 | 20 | 52 |
In the first half, the Cougars got off to a hot start, building a quick eight point lead in the first five minutes of the game. The Beavers would battle back to cut the lead to three, but WSU went on another run to take a 12 point lead at halftime.
In the second half, the Beavers took control, imposing their will on the Cougars. It took the Beavers twelve minutes to erase WSU's twelve point lead.
The Beavers went on an 18-1 run at one point in the second half, and the Cougars were unable to score for a stretch of eight minutes.
Seth Tarver's emphatic dunk, coming with the Beavers trailing by eight with fifteen minutes left in the second half, turned the tide in the game, as the Beavers basically dominated the game from that point on.
Calvin Haynes led the Beavers with 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting. Seth Tarver added 13 points, and Shaftenaar and Claitt scored eight apiece. For the second game in a row, Craig Robinson went somewhat of an unorthadox starting lineup. Claitt, Schaftenaar, and Seth Tarver were in the mix as usual, but Josh Tarver and freshman walk-on Kevin McShane were surprise additions.
McShane, who earned a starting spot due to hard work in practice, played 17 minutes and scored his first collegiate basket in the second half, giving the Beavers the lead in the game for the first time.
From McShane's layup on, the Beavers never trailed, holding off the Cougars in the final seven minutes of the game.
Klay Thompson led the Cougars with 20 points on just 8-of-17 shooting. Senior guard Taylor Rochestie, who averages just over 12 points per game, was held to just five points on 2-of-11 shooting.
The Beavers, who are now 11-13 overall and 5-8 in Pac-10 play, host the Bay Area schools this week.
--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)