Oregon State
USC
Payton II Carries Beavers Past Trojans
January 25, 2015 | Men's Basketball
Gary Payton II had a memorable game on the day Oregon State celebrated his father's historic 58-point performance as the Beavers edged USC 59-55 to sweep its weekend series against the Southland schools.
The junior guard from Las Vegas scored 21 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, dished out two assists, had two steals and had the game-clinching steal and free throw in the final 10 seconds. It was his sixth double-double of the season and his 12th straight game with multiple steals.
A game of runs that featured 12 lead changes and four ties came down to the final 19.9 seconds. With the Beavers holding a 58-55 lead, USC inbounded the ball looking for a possible 3-pointer to force overtime.
With former OSU All-American Gary Payton – honored in the first half for his 58-point game against USC on Feb. 22, 1990 – and the rest of the season-high crowd of 8,877 on their feet and roaring, Payton II stole the ball, eschewed a possible layup, ran off a few precious seconds and was fouled with 5.5 seconds to play.
He made the second of two free throws to give the Beavers a crucial two-possession advantage. USC then missed its final shot to end the game and keep OSU's perfect home-court record intact.
“Our guys wanted to go man-to-man, so we did and got in lock-down mode,” associate coach Kerry Rupp said in describing OSU's final defensive stand. “We knew they would try to go to [Katin] Reinhart and Gary did a great job of sitting on that,” and pilfered the ball away.
It was the 12th consecutive win for the Beavers (14-5, 5-2 Pac-12) at Fort Wayne. It is their best start at home since the 1979-80 team won all 13 of its home games; it was also their sixth straight home triumph over the Trojans (9-10, 1-6).
Junior forward Jarmal Reid came off the bench and had 14 points, three assists and two steals and junior forward Olaf Schaftenaar had 11 points, two steals and two assists. Schaftenaar's back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers on OSU's first three second-half possessions fired up the largest crowd in nearly three years, and it did not quiet down from that point on.
“That's the most people I'd ever played before at Gill, and I think they were outstanding, very, very loud and energetic,” Schaftenaar said. “We got it going in the second half and pulled the win off.
He credited his teammates for his -pointers, which turned a 30-29 deficit into a 38-30 OSU lead with 17:40 to play. Sophomore guard Malcolm Duvivier assisted on two, Payton on the third.
“I got great passes, for wide-open threes, so all the credit for them. If I get the ball [open] like that, it's not that hard for me to knock them down.”
Duvivier chipped in with nine points, five assists and five rebounds. He played 38 minutes for the second game in a row and has now played 116 of a possible 120 minutes over the last three games, all wins.
USC answered Schaftenaar's flurry with a 15-2 run to surge ahead 45-40 with 12:27 left, its largest lead of the game. OSU replied with an 8-0 run for a 48-45 advantage and the Beavers would not trail again.
There were some tense moments, however.
USC drew within 51-50 with 4:39 left. Duvivier and USC's Jordan McLaughlin traded baskets to make it 53-52 with 4:14 left. Payton then scored just as the shot clock expired on two consecutive possessions for a 57-52 lead with 2:38 left and the Beavers held on.
“I'm really proud,” Rupp said. “We'd jump out, they'd fight back and then we'd find a way to come on top, which is being resilient. Down the stretch we made some key stops and got some boards.
“Down the stretch we were solid against what they were running and sat on top of some of their shooters.”
USC scored the final eight points of the first half to trim OSU's intermission edge to 29-27. From that point on it was anybody's game, with 11 lead changes and two ties in the final 20 minutes.
The Beavers resume Pac-12 play at Arizona State on Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m.; the game will be televised by Pac-12 Networks.
OSU plays at Arizona at 7 p.m. Friday in another Pac-12 Networks contest. The unusual Wednesday-Friday format is because the Super Bowl will be played in the Phoenix area next Sunday.
