Beavers Start Strong, But Fade Away In Second Half In 71-54 Loss To Arizona

This game looked like it was going to be interesting in the first half. The Beavers were firing on all cylinders. Gligorije Rakocevic and Stephen Thompson Jr. combined for 18 of the Beavers 29 first half points and the Oregon State went into the half with a two-point lead against the fifth ranked team in the country. It was probably the best half that the Beavs have put together in this nightmare of a season, and gave everyone hope for the second half.

But then, back to reality.

Arizona went on a tear in the second half, getting out to a 23-7 start in the first 10 minutes and never looking back after that. Both teams looked completely different in the second half. Arizona played like the number 5 team in the country and took advantage of the multiple mistakes that Oregon State made, and used their mismatches to their advantage. The struggles they had against Oregon State’s zone defense in the first half were easily fixed in the second half as they scored almost at will. For the Beavers, they went back to the team that hasn’t been able to buy a bucket the entire season and couldn’t find a way to stop Allonzo Trier, who finished with 18 points and 3 rebounds to lead the way for the Wildcats.

There were some bright spots in this loss though, starting with the fact that the Beavers played this Arizona team strong for the first 20 minutes. No one thought they would even have a chance at any point in this game, and while Arizona may have underperformed, the Beavers were still able to capitalize for the first half. Also, the play of Gligorije Rakocevic. He stepped up in the first half when Drew Eubanks was in foul trouble and continued to make an impact in the second half finishing with 12 points and 4 rebounds. Rakocevic has underperformed this season, but if he can continue to play like this it will go a long way in the Beavers improvement.

Along with Rakocevic, Stephen Thompson put in 16 points and Drew Eubanks scored 12 points and grabbed 3 rebounds. The Beavs are now 4-19 overall and 0-10 in PAC 12 play. Their next game is on Saturday, February 4 at 3:00 p.m. where they face off against Arizona State at home.