Oregon State
Arizona State
Huge Win For Beavers
March 10, 2016 | Men's Basketball
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Oregon State took a major step towards its first NCAA tournament berth since the 1990 season on Wednesday by defeating Arizona State 75-66 in the first round of the Pacific-12 Conference Tournament at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
The Beavers (19-11) thus advanced to the quarterfinals, where they will face California at 8:45 p.m. Thursday in the final tournament game of the day.
“It going to be a tough game, they are very good and they finished well down the stretch,” said assistant coach Stephen Thompson, standing in for an under-the-weather head coach Wayne Tinkle, in previewing the game with the Golden Bears.
“It will be a battle. They watched us tonight and are well-rested, but at this point I don't think it matters. We'll go out and give them a fight.”
The teams both won at home in the regular season. OSU prevailed 77-71 at Gill Coliseum on Jan. 9, and lost 83-71 at Berkeley on Feb. 13.
It was the fourth win in the last five games for OSU, which is 6-3 in its last nine games and 2-1 since losing freshman forward Tres Tinkle with a foot injury.
“We are getting that chemistry and peaking at right time,” Payton said. “Everybody has bought it down the stretch and is stepping up.
“I see no reason why we can't keep winning, and leave no doubt” about earning an NCAA invitation.
Junior guard Malcolm Duvivier had 12 points, six rebounds and three assists for his first double-figure game since he scored 11 in a Feb. 11 win at Stanford.
Freshman guard Stephen Thompson Jr. had 13 points, a career-high five assists and two steals, senior guard Gary Payton II had 10 points, nine rebounds, four steals and two assists and senior forward Jarmal Reid had 10 points.
OSU's wire-to-wire triumph avenged its most lopsided loss of the season, an 86-68 setback at ASU Jan. 28. They led 32-23 at halftime and by as many as 16 in the second half (61-45) with 4:43 remaining. ASU (15-17) got within 67-60 and 70-63 with just over a minute to play, but OSU closed it out at the foul line and was 26 of 32 overall from the stripe.
The Beavers held ASU to 36 percent shooting overall (22-61) and to .28 percent (8-29) from deep with a strong defensive performance.
“They shot 36 percent and that's getting back to the numbers we had last year,” coach Thompson said. “It's great to see our guys rallying,” and locking down an opponent who shot 59 percent (32-54) from the floor in their previous encounter.
The Beavers hit three 3-point shots in the first three minutes to surge ahead 9-2. They led by as many as 11 points (15-4) and took a 32-23 advantage into the locker room at halftime.
Duvivier had seven points and three rebounds, Thompson three points and four assists, and Reid (6), Gligorije Rakocevic (6) and Langston Morris-Walker (4) combined for 16 huge points off the bench in the first half.
Freshman guard Derrick Bruce had eight points off the bench. OSU's reserves combined for 31 points and 14 rebounds.
“We had big contributions off the bench that lifted us,” coach Thompson said. “Gary was scoreless in the first half and other guys have to step up.
“It was one of our best team efforts of the season, offensively and defensively.”
The Beavers will learn their postseason destination on Sunday. The NCAA Selection Show is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on CBS; the NIT Selection Show is set for 5:30 p.m. on ESPNU.
