Oregon State Basketball: Beavers Edged Late By Wyoming, 76-73

This one may not sit right with Beaver Nation for a while.

Oregon State was defeated by Wyoming on Sunday at Gill Coliseum, 76-73, after holding a six-point lead with two minutes remaining in the contest. The Cowboys would outscore the Beavers by a 10-1 margin down the stretch, helped by Oregon State missing their final five shots and a bevy of untimely turnovers.

Head coach Wayne Tinkle and his staff will simply be left scratching their heads on how it got away.

Despite a less than stellar shooting display, senior guard Ethan Thompson led Oregon State in the outing, tallying 20 points (10-13 FT) as one of three Beavers to reach the double-figure scoring plateau.

Even surprise contributions from forward Dearon Tucker, who exploded for 16 points on a perfect day off the bench (4-4 FG, 8-8 FT), wasn’t enough for a Beavers group that needed to make more plays in the final moments of the game.

With the defeat, Oregon State has now lost their last two contests to fall to 2-2 on the campaign. Wyoming moves to 3-1 with the victory.

Overall, the Beavers were narrowly outrebounded (39-38) the Cowboys, but lost the turnover battle by a 14-11 margin. Yet, the main point of contrast was where Oregon State shot 20-56 from the field (35.7%) compared to Wyoming’s much more impressive 28-58 (48.3%) display.

In terms of names to take note of, Gianni Hunt chipped in 10 points and 4 assists in a reserve role, outperforming Zach Reichle and Jarod Lucas, a duo that combined for just 8 points on an abysmal 2-11 day from the field. Forward Warith Alatishe logged just 2 points, but led the squad on the glass with a 12-rebound outing.

For Wyoming, the Cowboys were paced individually by sophomore guard Kenny Foster, the surprise of the program’s season, who knocked down a trio of three-pointers off the bench en route to finishing with 19 points.

Big man Jeremiah Oden pitched in 15 points (7-10 FG), while guard Xavier DuSell added 14 points (3-4 3PT). The team’s leading scorer entering the game, Marcus Williams, posted 11 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.

Up Next: Oregon State returns to the hardwood on Thursday, December 10th to host Portland at Gill Coliseum. Tip-off is set for 5:00 PM PT. The game will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks.