The Beavers dropped to 4-6 on Saturday after a 87-79 loss against the George Washington Colonials. The game was played in front of 4,018 people at Gill Coliseum.
Jared Cunningham led the Beavers with 21 points. Calvin Haynes followed him with 16 points and two assists.
If you are looking for a bright spot, you can find it in Cunnigham. The Sophomore went 15-15 at the Free Throw line, breaking an Oregon State record.
The Beavers jumped out to an early 7-2 lead, but GW answered with a 26-8 run to take a 28-15 lead. The game went back and forth from there, until the Beavers used a quick flurry of points to cut the Colonial lead to one at Halftime.
10 of 13 Beaver players got into the game, not counting Rhys Murphy and Eric Moreland, who are out for the year with injuries. Omari Johnson, Joe Burton, Jared Cunningham, Calvin Haynes, and Angus Brandt got the start for the Beavers. Freshmen Ahmad Starks and Devon Collier led the Beavers off the bench with eight points.For the Colonials, Tony Taylor led the way minutes-wise, with 33. Nemanja Mikic and Taylor led George Washington with 19 points, followed by Dwayne Smith with 15 points. The Colonials came into this game with a record of 3-5.
Roberto Nelson Watch
Nelson had only three points in 14 minutes, but his lone basket was a huge one. Down by four with 8:50 left, Nelson threw up an NBA-range three and hit nothing but net. Gill was thrown into a frenzy, but that would be Nelson's only points of the night.
The Colonials led Oregon State in alomst every statistical category, except in 2nd chance points. Oregon State had 8 to George Washington's 6.
Down by one at Halftime, the Beavers had some momentum going into the final half. Yet that was all erased when GW went on a 8-0 run to take a nine point lead. The Beavers hung around and cut the lead to one at 60-59. But the Beavers could never get a stop when they needed one, and George Washington sunk their free throws to hang on for an eight point victory.
With the loss, the Beavers dropped to 4-6 and George Washington improved to 4-5.
As far as the crowd goes, 4,000 isn't bad considering the students are on Winter Break. The attendance should improve for Pac-10 play, which begins on the 30th.
Next up for the Beavers are the Illinois-Chicago Flames, Wednesday at 7:00 PM in Corvallis, Oregon.