Final Score: Oregon St. 85 Alcobendas 69
Angus Brandt posted his second double double of Oregon St.'s Spanish trip, leading the Beavers to an 85-69 win over Alcobendas Sunday evening in Madrid. Brandt had 16 points and 10 rebounds, and is averaging a double double for the tour.
"Hopefully we've created a Frankenstein's monster with Angus, because that kid is playing out of his mind," Oregon St. head coach Craig Robinson said.
Devon Collier also came up with a good game, leading Oregon St. with 17 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 blocks, and both Roberto Nelson and Ahmad Starks were in double figures from the Beaver backcourt, with 16 and 11 points, respectively.
Alcobendas was not originally on Oregon St.'s itinerary, but times and opponents have changed on a daily basis.
The game started at a fast pace, with Oregon St. opening a 28-23 lead after the first quarter, and the Beavers used a 12-4 run in the second period to build the lead to 11 points at the half, going up 50-39.
It was still an 11 point game after three quarters, and Robinson put his starters, Brandt, Collier, Nelson, Starks, and Eric Moreland all back into the game.
The Beavers proceeded to open the lead to 78-60 not quite halfway through the final period, and then cruised to the win.
"This was easily our best game so far," Robinson said. "I thought that our guys handled a much more athletic team, a bigger team really well. What they showed is that they have the capability of playing up to the competition as opposed to playing down to the competition. It's a good thing that they can play up to the competition."
One of the objectives of the summer practices and trip was to tune up the defense, and Robinson seems satisfied with the progress on that objective.
"I thought our team defense was the best I've seen in the two years we've been playing man-to-man and we clearly moved the ball around well," Robinson felt. "So this is easily the best game we've had all summer."
Robinson held Daniel Gomis out of the game, opting to rest the leg he broke last season, but plans to use Gomis Monday night in the final game of the trip, against Real Canoe, who was originally scheduled to be the third team the Beavers faced.
The game will start at 11 AM PDT Monday.
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com