Beavers Slip Past Buffs In Boulder, 76-74

Thursday, January 31

Boulder, CO

6:00 PM

Oregon State

13-7, 5-3

Colorado

11-9, 2-6

Oregon State

Colorado

Photo by: Oregon State Athletics

January 31, 2019 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score

By: Oregon State Communications

BOULDER, Colo. - Stephen Thompson Jr. scored 21 points, Tres Tinkle had 19 points and eight rebounds to lead Oregon State to a 76-74 win over the Colorado Buffaloes on Thursday night.

Ethan Thompson had 14 points, including a dunk that ignited an 8-4 run late to help the Beavers (13-7, 5-3 Pac-12) to the win.

McKinley Wright led Colorado with 18 points and Evan Battey had six of his 16 points late in the second half. Colorado lost for just the third time at home this season.

The game was close throughout the second half and went back-and-forth in the final three minutes. Battey and Ethan Thompson traded buckets to tie it at 69 late. Oregon State's Gligorije Rakocevic broke the tie with two free throws and, after a Colorado turnover, Tinkle was fouled and drained both foul shots to give Oregon State a 73-69 lead with 37.2 seconds left.

Wright -- who knocked down a 3 to make it a one-point game with a second left -- missed a desperation shot at the buzzer to send Colorado to its sixth loss in eight conference games.

Colorado (11-9, 2-6) used a pair of 9-0 runs and survived a four-minute scoring drought to take a 40-35 lead at halftime. The Buffaloes had just 18 points with 6:45 left but outscored the Beavers by 10 until Thompson Jr. hit a shot just before the break to cut it to five.

Neither team shot well from the foul line. Colorado came into the game hitting 71 percent of its free throws but was 10 of 20 from the line until Wright hit four straight to make it 65-65 before the last media timeout.

The Beavers will next face Utah at 2 p.m. PT (3 p.m. MT) on Saturday at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City. The game will be televised on Pac-12 Network.

OUR MISSION
Oregon State Athletics strives to Build Excellent Authentic Visionary Student-Athletes (Go BEAVS).