Oregon State Men’s Basketball: Beavers Fall to Trojans 81-71

After just falling short against Oregon Monday night, the Oregon State Men suffered another heartbreaking loss, with the team failing to close out their upset bid against the #5 USC Trojans, losing 81-71. The Beavers fall to 3-11 on the season, and 1-3 in Pac-12 play. They are currently second from the bottom in the Pac-12 standings, just above 1-5 Utah. USC, meanwhile, improves to 13-1 overall and 3-1 in the Pac-12, second in the conference behind Arizona.

Oregon State started the game strong, with early scoring from Jarod Lucas and Warith Alatishe giving the Beavers a 7 point lead a few minutes into the game. USC managed to catch back up, but threes from Lucas and Maurice Calloo got the OSU lead back to eight at the nine minute mark. Xzavier Malone-Key then sparked a Trojan run that tied the game up, but another Jarod Lucas three and a Warith Alatishe layup gave the Beavers a 5 point lead at the half.

The Beavers continued to keep pace with USC as the second half started, and a Jarod Lucas layup at 16:49 gave the Beavers a 10 point lead, their largest of the night. Unfortunately for Oregon State, the non Lucas members of the team started to go cold, and USC started inching closer and closer to taking the lead. They finally got there with a Drew Peterson layup with 10:30 left in the game.

Chevez Goodwin and Reese Dixon-Waters gave the Trojans a bit of a cushion, but the Beavers would not go away. Back to back threes from Lucas tied the game back up, before a Goodwin dunk gave USC the lead back. Roman Silva and Alatishe capitalized on turnovers to briefly give the Beavers a one point lead with 4 minutes to go, but the team wouldn’t hold it for long, as Isaiah Mobley got it back for the Trojans with a pair of free throws.

The Beavers wouldn’t find any scoring after that, as Oregon State couldn’t sink a shot to save the game, including a frustrating run of missed free throws. Unlike OSU, USC managed to sink their free throws, giving them the 81-71 win over the Beavers.

Its a disappointing result after the team performed so well for much of the game, and a waste of one of the best games we’ve ever seen from Jarod Lucas. Lucas finished the night with a career high 27 points, along with 4 rebounds and 2 steals. Warith Alatishe added 15 points, 8 rebounds and 1 assist, while Dashawn Davis rounded out the top scorers with 11 points, 7 assists and 3 rebounds.

The Beavers are in for another tough opponent Saturday night, when they’ll visit Pauley Pavilion to take on the third ranked UCLA Bruins. Tip off is set for 7:30 PM PT, with the game being carried by the Pac-12 Networks.