Oregon State MBB: Beavers Fall Just Short Against Oregon, Lose 78-76

While much of the country was watching the College Football National Championship Game, the Oregon State Men’s Basketball team was back in action, with the Ducks coming up to Corvallis for the Beavers’ first game of 2022. Sadly, an impressive second hand comeback fell just short, with Oregon State falling to the Ducks 78-76.

The Ducks and Beavers battled back and forth in the first half of the game, with Oregon State grabbing the first points of the game with a Roman Silva layup. The Beavers led for most of the first half, with Jarrod Lucas, Roman Silva and Xzavier Malone-Key each putting up 6 points in the first half.

Problems started to arise later in the first half, with the Beavers shooting starting to struggle. Oregon State failed to hit a three point shot in the first, severely limiting their scoring options. The Ducks took the lead with a De’vion Harmon jump shot with 3:34 left in the first, and wouldn’t trail for the rest of the game. A Jacob Young three gave Oregon a 40-36 lead at halftime.

Warith Alatishe opened the second half with a layup to get Oregon State within two, but the Ducks continued to set the pace of the game. Jacob Young and De’vion Harmon built the lead back up, and while the Beavers continued to miss all their three point attempts, threes from Oregon’s Will Richardson and Rivaldo Soares helped give Oregon a 9 point lead with 9:00 left in the game.

Oregon State finally found a rhythm around then. In particular, Warith Alatishe finally managed to make an impact in the game. He scored 12 points in the second half, and was hugely instrumental in getting the Beavers back in the game. Dexter Akanno finally broke the team’s three pointer cold streak, and another three from Glenn Taylor Jr. got OSU to within two.

A Warith Alatishe hookshot tied the game at 64 with 4:52 to go. Oregon free throws gave the Ducks the lead back, but Alatishe tied the game again for the Beavers. Both teams traded layups and free throws as the time wound down, but the Beavers failed to ever grab the lead back.

An Eric Williams Jr. three pointer with 13 seconds to go was a dagger in the heart of the Beavers comeback, but after free throws the Beavers were within two with 8 seconds left on the clock. The Beavers had possession, but an Alatishe layup bounced off the rim, giving the Ducks the 78-76 win.

Alatishe led the Beavers in scoring, with 16 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Deshawn Davis was right behind him, with 14 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds. Roman Silva rounded out the top scorers, with 12 points and 9 rebounds. The Beavers only hit two three point shots in the game, which definitely seems to be an issue that needs to be worked on.

Oregon State now falls to 3-11 overall, and 1-3 in conference play. The puts them second to last in the Pac-12, just ahead of Utah. The Ducks, meanwhile, improve to 9-6, 2-2 in Pac-12 play, and currently sit fifth in the conference standings.

Up next, Oregon State will have one of their toughest weekends of the season. The Beavers travel to southern California to take on 5th ranked USC on Thursday, January 13th, and 3rd ranked UCLA on Saturday, January 15th.