In a surreal second half, the Beavers squandered a seven point halftime lead in the first two minutes of the second half, and the Cardinal never trailed again as they went on to beat the Beavers 62-54 Wednesday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
The Beavers, who lost out on avoiding a play-in game with an abysmal second half against USC last week, failed to reach the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 tournament since 2006 when they beat No. 9 Arizona State then lost to No.1 UClA in the quarterfinals.
The loss marks the end of a great turnaround season for the Beavers, but one that ended much sooner than anybody wanted, and one that ended on four completely wrong notes.
With that said, however, the Beavers could still garner an invitation to a post-season tournament somewhere, if someone is willing to take a team with a lower record in exchange for the national exposure they could get for having a team in their tournament coached by Craig Robinson.
Seniors Rickey Claitt, Kyle Bjornstad, and Joey McConnell have likely plaid their last game in a Beaver uniform. Claitt had six points in the game after getting into early foul trouble. Neither Bjornstad or McConnell played against Stanford, which lost 85-73 to Washington yesterday in the quarterfinals.
Lathen Walalce led the Beavers with 18 points, and Schaftenaar added 12, but was just 3-of-10 shooting. Calvin Haynes, who hasn't been the same since injuring himself opening a can of pineapple a few weeks ago, was 2-of-11 from the field.
The Beavers can only sit back and watch the rest of the Pac-10 tournament play out now as we await Selection Sunday, after which the NCAA, NIT, CBI, and all the other tournament fields will be decided.
--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)