Los Angeles-Oregon State was in the driver’s seat of its first round Pacific Life Pac-12 Basketball Tournament game against Washington State. Riding the momentum of some hot shooting, Oregon State jumped out to a quick 24-8 lead. But that 16-point lead Oregon State built up disappeared into a one-point deficit at halftime.
Oregon State coach Craig Robinson helped his team regain control of the game’s wheel and steered the Beavers to a 69-64 win at Staples Center. Oregon State came into the one and done tournament with a less than impressive record of 7-11 in conference play, despite accomplishing a solid 17-11 overall mark for the season.
But they showed resilience they had been lacking earlier in the season. Instead of a blowout, this game became a nail-biter midway through the first half until the final buzzer sounded. This is what college basketball is about: thrills, chills and spills.
Despite being overtaken before the first half was over, Oregon State maintained its composure and rallied back for the win with some in-your-face defense and key free throws down the stretch. It’s the kind of game Oregon State would not have been able to come from back from if the team had not gone through this earlier in the season, Robinson said.
“That’s a sign of maturity,” Robinson said. “Again, we couldn’t do this earlier in the season because we weren’t mature enough. We’re starting a freshman, two sophomores and two juniors, and one of the juniors didn’t play his freshman year. So that’s a young team.
“But to see them be able to man it up at the end of a game that was rugged against some really good players and a team that had beaten us twice, it was outstanding. It should be a confidence builder for these guys. These guys should feel like they can beat anybody at any time, no matter what.”
The back and forth battle between the two teams didn’t end after the first two quarters of play. The two teams locked up against each other and wouldn’t let go. It would remain that way the rest of the game. What initially looked like a blowout yawner turned into a tough, down-to-the-wire contest with neither team willing to concede an inch.
A victory would give the winner one more day to stay alive to play for the chance at the opportunity of securing an NCAA Tournament berth.
The loser wouldn’t be so lucky. Lose and go home, like any other college basketball tournament, is the theme for the Pac-12 tourney. Unfortunately, one team had to go home early. Washington State was feeling good about its chances after overcoming that first half deficit to take the lead. But Oregon State’s persistence on both ends of the floor was a little bit more than the Cougars could handle this day.
And so was the energy Oregon State exhibited in the second half, especially on the defensive side of the ball. With star guard Jared Cunningham (1-12 field goal attempts) struggling to find his shot, Oregon State found other players to make significant contributions. Forward Devon Collier stepped up his game and scored 19 points. Joe Burton chipped in 15 points for Oregon State, which also got 12 rebounds from Eric Moreland.
While Cunningham struggled on offense, he picked up his defense enough to clamp down on Reggie Moore, forcing the Washington State guard into a horrendous shooting game (4-20 field goal attempts). Robinson said Cunningham’s ability to make plays on either side of the ball makes him an invaluable player to the Beavers. Robinson said Cunningham’s versatility as a player exceeds any statistical number he puts up.
“Here it says 1for 8, o for 4, and he scores three points and he’s averaging whatever he’s averaging. If you told me before the game started that that would be his line and we’d still win, I would wonder what you had to drink before we got started,” Robinson said. “But again, Jared does a lot of things for us other than scoring. He was a nuisance on D. Jared was guarding Reggie Moore. Reggie Moore was 3 for 16 today. So what he didn’t do on offense, he picked up on defense, and that was really important.”
Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, race, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University. Email Dennis at dfreeman@news4usonline.com
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