Oregon State
Arizona
Beavers Rock No. 7 Arizona 58-56
January 12, 2015 | Men's Basketball
Oregon State rocked the college basketball world by shocking No. 7 Arizona 58-56 at Gill Coliseum on Sunday for its first victory over a Top-10 team in nearly 15 years.
A driving layup by junior guard Langston Morris-Walker with 26 seconds to play broke a 56-56 tie. The Beavers then got one final stop on the defensive end when T.J. McConnell missed a short running jumper with one second remaining.
When the final horn sounded, many in the season-high crowd of 6,191 rushed the court to celebrate the Beavers' 10th consecutive home triumph with the Beavers and new head coach Wayne Tinkle. It is OSU's best home start since the 1998-99 season.
OSU (11-4, 2-1 Pac-12) had not defeated a Top-10 team since edging No. 3 Arizona 70-69 on March 2, 2000. It was their first win over a ranked opponent since a 68-56 upset of No. 20 Washington on Feb. 3, 2011.
Morris-Walker scored 12 points and had eight rebounds and junior guard Gary Payton II added 10 points, nine rebounds and three assists for the Beavers, who never trailed by more than four points all night. There were 20 lead changes and the score was tied 15 times, the last at 56-56 when Arizona's Rondae Hollis-Jefferson hit one of two free throws with 49 seconds to play.
That set up the frantic finish. With the crowd on its feet and roaring and shot clock nearing 10 seconds, Morris-Walker broke away from his defender, took a perfect pass from junior guard Victor Robbins and dropped the ball home from the right side of the lane for the decisive points.
“It was a crazy moment,” Morris-Walker said. “Beaver Nation came out strong and we fed off their momentum the whole game.
“This team plays so hard. We have a great coaching staff and they coach the whole game. They coach their tails off, we play our tails off and that's what makes us win.”
The Beavers outrebounded Arizona 32-26, shot .513 (20-39) from the field and held the Wildcats (14-2, 2-1) to .371 (17-45) shooting from the floor and .235 (4-17) from beyond the arc.
“I am super proud of our guys, they are the ones who won this game,” Tinkle said. “They made the plays on both end. This is great but we don't want this year to be about beating Arizona. We've got stuff in front of us.”
Arizona scored the final four points of the first half to take a 21-20 lead at the break. OSU went back ahead 22-21 with 18:55 to play on a Payton layup. From that point on neither team led by more than four points.
“The first five minutes of each half against a team like this you have to draw a line in the sand and dig in, otherwise it gets rough,” Tinkle said. “Our guys did that.”
Arizona led 43-39 with 8:55 left but OSU battled back to draw even at 44-44 on an Olaf Schaftenaar 3-pointer with 7:46 to play. Another 3-pointer, by Morris-Walker, knotted the score 47-47 with 6:08 left.
Arizona went back on top 50-47 with 5:40 left but a basket and two free throws by sophomore guard Malcolm Duvivier sent OSU on top 51-50 with 4:06 left. OSU led 56-52 with 1:33 left after a traditional 3-point play by Duvivier but Arizona pulled even one last time on a 3-pointer and the aforementioned Hollis-Jefferson free throw.
The Beavers resume Pac-12 action at Washington at 6 p.m. Thursday. They conclude their short road trip at Washington State at 6 p.m. Saturday; both games will be televised by Pac-12 Networks.
