Beavs Topple Terrapins

The Beavers came out and defeated an actual team today, partially making up for their season opening loss to Coppin State, and also dulls the pain from the football loss to Arizona State. The scoring started with Roberto Nelson converting a layup off of a steal, but Maryland would hold steady. In fact the first half was hotly contested with neither team able to pull away. The maximum lead for the first half was only four points, and both teams had leads of that size. The Terrapins nearly took a lead into the locker room on a long three point shot, but the ball was still in the hand of the shooter when the buzzer sounded. It took some deliberation to get the call right, but both teams went into the locker rooms tied at 38.

The second half started with a scoring flurry from Challe Barton and Nelson, creating an 8-0 run and getting the Beavs up 46-38 at the first tv timeout. The Beavs would hold the lead though, allowing some shots to Maryland, but they were answered by Devon Collier, who had an excellent game. This got the Beavs to a 53-45 lead, which they would briefly improve off of a couple Maryland turnovers, but then the Terrapins began to slowly crawl back into it.

Over approximately five minutes the Terrapins kept on chipping away at the Beaver lead, getting baskets from a variety of players. They had finally got the lead down to two after a Jake Layman three, with the score at 65-63. On the next Oregon State possession Roberto Nelson turned over the ball, but Maryland would answer with a turnover of their own. Victor Robbins hit a three after that and extended the Beaver lead to five points, and the Beavs would never relinquish the lead. They played just enough defense and with a little help from Charles Mitchell of Maryland missing four free throws, the Beavs just held up at the end, allowing Maryland to twice get the lead down to three, but Collier and Nelson met the challenge and helped bring home a Beaver victory.

Collier and Nelson were something else in this game, with Collier getting a 29 point and game high 11 rebound double double, and Nelson dropped a game high 31 points, and 7 assists.

The Beavs shot a whopping 59.6% from the field, and only put up 8 3s. They were still rebounded 39-32 and turned the ball over 18 times, but if the offense is clicking like this, the Beavs will be able to win some games this year.

The Beavs' win at Maryland in the first meeting ever between the teams was Oregon St.'s first road win ever against an ACC team, and broke a 30 game winning streak in non-conference games for the Terrapins.