Oregon St. Outscores Concordia 104-94

Oregon St. pulled past Concordia University of Portland, OR, for a 10 point, 104-94 win in the Beavers' second outing of the season Tuesday night at Gill Coliseum, in front of an announced crowd of 2,862, which seemed to be a generous number.

Concordia, a member of the NAIA Cascade Collegiate Conference, looked like a team with already 5 games under their belt, and controlled about 3/4 of the game. The Cavaliers jumped to a quick 4-0 lead over the slow starting Beavers, and though Oregon St. took a 9-6 lead on Olaf Schaftenaar's 3 pointer, Concordia answered with a 7-0 run, and led the rest of the first half, until Roberto Nelson's 3 pointer pulled the Beavers back into a 43-43 tie at the break.

11 of 12 free throw shooting in the first half by the Beavers was instrumental in their hanging in against the Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers opened the second half with another 6-0 run, and the Beavers didn't take their next lead until about 8 minutes into the second half, on back to back baskets by Nelson and Malcolm Duvivier.

Concordia didn't fold though, and it wasn't until Oregon St. put together a 9-0 run in about a minute and a half that started with just over 8 minutes left with a 3 pointer by Challe Barton that the Beavers took the lead for good.

Even then, the Cavaliers hung around, and Oregon St. didn't take the first of 3 10 points leads that were the largest of the game until Duvivier's 3 pointer with 51 seconds left made it 99-89 Beavers.

Nelson, who had 16 points at the break, went on to lead all scorers, with 36 points, on 13 of 22 shooting, supplemented by a 9 of 9 night at the free throw line, while Adam Herman led Concordia with 34 points, 22 in the second half.

Duvivier had 17 points for Oregon St., which except for 2 points by Daniel Goims, represented the entire bench production for the Beavers.

Schaftenaar, who started in place of Jarmal Reid, who was ill and did not play, added 16 points for Oregon St., as did Barton, while Angus Brandt had 12, in 25 minutes of action. Brandt also had a game high 5 assists.

Willy Ligon, who led everyone in the first half, with 18 points, finished with 24 points for Concordia, including 6 of 12 shooting from beyond the 3 point line, and Thomas Pierce and Tyler Velasquez were also in double digits, with 16 and 15 points respectively.

Herman just missed a double double, with a game high 9 rebounds, while Schaftenaar led the Beavers on the boards with 7.

Oregon St. shot 58% from the field, pulled up by 69% shooting in the second half, and made 5 of 15 3 pointers, 33%

Concordia was only slightly outshot from both the line and the field, making 19 of 26 free throws, compared to Oregon St.'s 25 of 33, over 30% on their 3 pointers, and they made 34 of 72 shots from the field.

The Cavaliers out-rebounded the Beavers 41-36, with 19 offensive boards a big part of how they stayed in the game.

While Oregon St. got the win in the non-counting exhibition, the outcome was in question until the final minute, as problems with losing defensive contact with shooters and frequently not being in position to rebound missed shots persist.

The Beavers open "counting" play Sunday at 5 PM when they host Coppin St., and unless there is some defensive improvement, though their offense is finding a gear similar to what we saw in the early part of last year's high scoring non-conference slate, Oregon St. could be hard pressed to be more than a competitive team in the Cascade Collegiate Conference.

The Eagles will open their season Friday night at California, before moving up the coast to complete their west coast tour against the Beavers.

Streaming Less Than A Success

Oregon St. improved their effort at streaming by inserting a score and clock at some dead ball situations, but the "Live Stats" weren't always, lagging by as much as 2 minutes at times.

But whomever they are still using in place of Mike Parker is still arguably the most incompetent basketball announcer in the business.

And the Pac-12.com connection cut over to "The connection has been lost. Please try again later." 3 times in each half.

At least we had the unveiling of "RC Helicopter Cam", hovering above Ralph Miller Court.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com