Oregon State Basketball: Beavers Fall Apart in Second Half, Lose 69-54

Oregon State won’t get the Civil War sweep this year. Despite a close fought first half, the Oregon Ducks dominated the second to beat the Beavers by 15, 69-54. Oregon State falls to 15-12, and 5-10 in the Pac-12, while the 14th ranked Ducks improve to 21-7, and 10-5 in conference play.

Zach Reichle got the Beavers the first points of the game with a three pointer two minutes in, but Anthony Mathis scored the next five points for the Ducks, giving them the lead. Tres Tinkle then got his first points of the night, and an Ethan Thompson jumper gave the Beavers the lead back.

Payton Pritchard then began to take charge for Oregon. Pritchard hit back to back threes to give the Ducks the lead and a bit of breathing room. The Ducks managed to hold onto a slim lead for most of the first half, but a pair of Ethan Thompson threes gave the Beavers back the lead with 4 minutes to go.

The Ducks got the lead back in short order, but the Beavs kept it close, with Tinkle and Thompson providing most of the scoring. Payton Pritchard hit a layup with seconds left on the clock to give the Ducks a 4 point lead, and a nearly full court shot from Ethan Thompson found its mark, but left his hand just a second too late to count. Oregon led 29-25 at halftime.

Things fell apart for the Beavers in the second half. Payton Pritchard powered the Ducks to a big run, and after 9 minutes Oregon had built a 22 point lead. Oregon State’s shooting went absurdly cold during this stretch, with a layup from Tinkle and a sole free throw from Kylor Kelley their only points for the first 8 minutes of the half.

The Beavers shooting began to thaw after that, but it was far too late to claw their way back into the game, especially with Oregon’s offense firing on all cylinders. Whenever Tres Tinkle or Ethan Thompson would make a play that could give the Beavers some momentum, Payton Pritchard would answer with a three to shift things back Oregon’s way. Antoine Vernon managed to get the last word in for the Beavers, hitting a layup with 3 seconds left in the game, but Oregon State lost 69-54.

Tres Tinkle will have to wait for another day in his attempt to break Gary Payton’s scoring record. Tinkle needed 20 to break the record, and only got 14 tonight. He also got 10 rebounds, but he was the focus of much of the Ducks’ defensive pressure, severely limiting his productivity. He was severely constrained in the first half, but found some room late in the second, when he finally got his shot going.

Ethan Thompson was the top scorer for Oregon State, with 15 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds. Zach Reichle had 11 points, while Kylor Kelley finished with 10 points, 6 rebounds and 4 blocks to round out the team’s top scorers.

Tinkle will look to break the team’s scoring record next weekend when the Beavers take on the NorCal schools. Stanford will come to Corvallis on Thursday, March 5th, while Cal will visit on Saturday, March 7th.