Men's Basketball Finishes Strong Season
March 18, 1999
Corvallis, Ore. - THE FINAL WORD: Oregon State concluded the 1998-99 schedule with a record of 13-14 overall, and 7-11 in the Pacific-10 Conference. The Beavers tied for seventh in the league with USC, the highest finish for the program since the 1994-95 season. The seven victories are the most since the 1992-93 club posted a 9-9 mark.
POSTSEASON HONORS: Sophomores Deaundra Tanner and Josh Steinthal earned postseason honors in 1998-99. Tanner was selected to the All-Pac-10 Conference team and to the first team District 14 squad. Steinthal was named to the conferences All-Newcomer Team. Tanner is on pace to be the first Beaver to be named to the All-Freshmen Team and then to the All-Pac-10 Team three years straight.
GOOD COMPANY: Oregon State defeated a three teams (UCLA, Arizona, Stanford) which were ranked in the Associated Press Top-25 Poll at the time of the game - a school record. Duke (five wins) and Kentucky (four wins) were the only schools to have more wins vs. the nations elite, and California, Stanford and Maryland joined OSU with three victories.
SATURDAY NIGHT: The Bay City Rollers and the Oregon State mens basketball team loved S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Nights in 1998-99. The Beavers did not lose on Saturday nights on Ralph Miller Court, defeating UC Irvine, USC, Arizona, Oregon, Washington State and Stanford.
STREAKS: Oregon State snapped a four-game losing streak by defeating Stanford in the season finale to record its 13th victory for the season. OSU finished the year with a mark of 12-2 at home, its only losses to Washington and California. OSU lone other victory of the season was at BYU-Hawaii in the tournament opener of the inaugural Pearl Harbor Classic. The 12-2 record at home was the programs best since also posting a 12-2 mark in 1990-91.
WHOS BACK: Oregon State expects to return all five starters and nine letterman in all. This will be the first time OSU has returned five starters since the 1989-90 season (Gary Payton, Will Brantley, Teo Alibegovic, Earl Martin, Lamont McIntosh), the last time OSU made an appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Here is a closer look at the year in school and scoring averages for next years team:
Seniors
F Clifton Jones, 5.0 pts, 6.4 reb, 1.3 blk G Josiah Lake, 2.5 pts, 1.3 reb, walk-on G Ramunas Petraitis, 6.4 pts, 3.8 reb. C George von Backstrom, 3.2 pts, 2.3 reb, .536 FG Pct. F Iyan Walker, 4.3 pts, 3.0 reb, .489 (45-92) FG Pct.Juniors
C Jason Heide, 10.9 pts, 5.6 reb, .540 FG Pct. G Josh Steinthal, 11.9 pts, 2.6 reb, 57 3-pt FGs G Deaundra Tanner, 15.8 pts, 5.1 reb, 4.7 astSophomore
G Adam Masten, 3.4 pts, 2.4 reb, 1.9 astWHOS GONE: Oregon State loses just forward Sasa Petrovic from the 1998-99 team. Petrovic was in the program five years and played in 89 games. He made a total of 16 starts for his career.
THE VERY BEST: Oregon State remains a member of the top-10 winningest Division I programs in the nation, and has compiled the most victories of any school within the Pacific-10 Conference. The Beavers enter the 1999-2000 season with 1,469 victories, the ninth-highest number in the nation.
WHO DO WE PLAY NEXT YEAR? As of mid-March the preseason schedule had not been finished, but the 1999-2000 conference schedule has been announced. Oregon State and the University of Oregon have drawn the unenviable task of playing four straight on the road during the Pac-10 slate. Here is a look at the Beavers Pac-10 slate for next season:
Jan. 8 Oregon Jan. 13 Stanford Jan. 15 California Jan. 20 at Washington State Jan. 22 at Washington Jan. 27 UCLA Jan. 29 USC Feb. 3 at Arizona State Feb. 5 at Arizona Feb. 10 at California Feb. 12 at Stanford Feb. 17 Washington Feb. 19 Washington State Feb. 24 at USC Feb. 26 at UCLA Mar. 2 Arizona Mar. 4 Arizona State Mar. 11 at Oregon
RECORDS BROKEN: Several records were toppled by the 1998-99 Beavers. Here is a look as those records
Blocked Shots (9 old rec.): 10 vs. Notre Dame (Cal.) and UO 3-PT FGs/1 game (10 old rec): 11 vs. USC and at Arizona Ind. Blk. Shots (6 old rec.): 6, Clifton Jones vs. Oregon 3-Pt. FG Pct. (5 att.): 5-5, Deaundra Tanner vs. USC 3-Pt. FGs (7 old rec): 7, Josh Steinthal at Arizona 3-Pt. FGs Att.: (11 old rec.): 12, Josh Steinthal at Ariz.BEAVERS PICKED 10TH: Prior to the season, media attending the Pac-10 Conference Media Day selected Oregon State a distant 10th in the voting. Here is the media poll and the actual finish in the brackets - Stanford, 1st (1st); Arizona, 2nd (2nd); UCLA, 3rd (4th), Washington, 4th (3rd); California, 5th-tie (5th); Oregon, 5th-tie (6th-tie); USC, 7th-tie (8th); Oregon State, 7th-tie (10th); Arizona State, 9th (6th-tie); Washington State, 10th (9th).
DOUBLE-DOUBLE CLUB: Seven double-doubles were achieved this season by Oregon State players, two by Clifton Jones, Deaundra Tanner and Jason Heide. Jones had two straight double-doubles - 20 points, 11 rebounds at Washington State/10 points, 12 rebounds vs. Arizona State. Tanner posted doubles-doubles vs. USC (27 pts, 12 reb) and vs. Washington (17 pts, 10 reb). Jason Heide had 15 points and 11 rebounds at Cal and 20 points and 10 rebounds vs. Washington State. Ramunas Petraitis scored this seasons first double-double, a 12-point 10-rebound effort vs. UC Irvine.
EVERY POSSESSION COUNTS: In Oregon States case that was particularly evident in 1998-99. The Beavers finished the season with a 64.7 scoring average, the second-lowest average since the 1986 campaign. The good news was OSU allowing just 64.6 points per game, the fewest since the 1988 season.
THREE-POINT ACCURACY: Oregon State concluded the year firing .350 from three-point range, the fourth-highest percentage in school history and the second-highest since 1990. The Beavers ended the year hitting 39 of 96 (.406) over the last five games. Meanwhile, OSUs opponents hit .314 (169-539) from behind the arc, a school record for futility. The season ended with the opponents attempting more threes than OSU for the fifth straight year.
INTERESTED FOLKS: For the first time since the 1992-93 season (twice), an excess of 10,000 fans witnessed a game at Gill Coliseum more than once in a season. The Civil War was sold out (10,400) and 10,204 attended the OSU-Arizona game.
CLEANING THE WINDOWS: Oregon State concluded the season on the plus side for rebounding (+1.4) for the second straight season. The team averaged 37.0 per game this season, the highest mark since 1973 (42.0). This is also the first time OSU has outrebounded its opponents for two straight years since the 1984 and 85 seasons.
IRON, THATS ALL: Oregon State has held its opponents to a combined shooting percentage of .398, second in the Pac-10 Conference. Oregon State was third in the nation for field goal percentage defense entering the final nine games of the Conference slate.
EDDIE PAYNE: Head Coach Eddie Payne concluded his fourth year at Oregon State with a 13-14 mark, and now has a record of 39-72. His overall record now stands at 198-181. Payne previously was the Head Coach at Truett-McConnell Junior College in Cleveland, Georgia; Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, N.C., and at East Carolina University. His teams at Belmont Abbey posted a mark of 103-51 in five seasons; and in four seasons at ECU he was 70-72. Payne has also been an assistant coach at South Carolina, East Carolina and Clemson. His four-year institution season-by-season record follows: 1982 at B.A. (17-10); 1983 at B.A. (15-14); 1984 at B.A. (26-11); 1985 at B.A. (21-10); 1986 at B.A. (24-6); 1992 at ECU (10-18); 1993 at ECU (13-17); 1994 at ECU (15-12); 1995 at ECU (18-11); 1996 at OSU (6-21); 1997 at OSU (7-20); 1998 at OSU (13-17); 1999 at OSU (13-14).
TANNER TALES: Sophomore guard Deaundra Tanner was selected to the All-Pac-10 team, the first Beaver since Brent Barry (1994-95) to earn such acclaimhe also was named to the five-member District VIII Team with Todd MacCulloch of Washington, Jason Hartmann of Portland State and Mark Madsen and Arthur Lee of Stanfordhe scored in double figures in 16 of the last 17 games and 28 of the last 34...he scored all 10 of OSUs points in overtime vs. USC, and overall hit 5 of 5 three-point field goals...named Pac-10 Player of the Week after OSUs upset wins over UCLA and USC, when he averaged 23.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists...one of two Beavers to start every game, and now has a streak of 41 starts...averaged nearly 15 field goal attempts per game...played every minute of the last three gamesmatched his career-high of nine assists vs. Arizona...he tallied 10 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in the exhibition game vs. Costa Rica, although unofficial, it was the first triple-double by a Beaver since Gary Payton Nov. 26, 1988...has played 30 or more minutes in 33 of the last 34 games, and finished third in the Pac-10 for minutes played per game at 36.6... has led the team in scoring in 15 of the 27 games this season...had a career-high 27 points and matched his career-high with 12 rebounds vs. USC - also his first career double-double...matched his career-high with 27 points at Arizona...scored 23 points vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff, registered 22 vs. Tulsa and California, and 21 vs. UC Irvine and at Oregon...has 10 20-plus scoring games for his career...averaging a team-high 15.8 points and 4.7 assists per game...third for the team in rebounding at 5.1eighth in the Pac-10 for scoring and fifth for assists...the only Beaver to average over 30 minutes per game this seasonhad 160 three-point field goal attempts for the season, second in school history...for his career he has 88 threes, fifth all-time at OSU, and 251 threes attempted, sixth all-timehis 51 converted threes this season, tied for the seventh-highest mark ever at OSUhad a streak of 16 consecutive free throws during the course of the season.
BIG GEORGE: Junior center George von Backstrom averaged 3.2 points and 2.3 rebounds for the season...hit 27 of 32 free throw attempts for a percentage of .844...scored a career-high 12 points vs. UC Irvine and grabbed a career-high eight rebounds vs. Idaho State...started 10 consecutive games, before being replaced by Jason Heide at UCLA...shot .536 (30-56) for the season...his playing time generally decreased during the conference season.
WALKERS WAYS: Junior forward Iyan Walker averaged 4.3 points and 3.0 rebounds for the season...he scored a career-high 14 points at California...tallied 13 points vs. UC Irvine and 12 against Alabama and the Coll. of Notre Dame... blocked a career-high four shots vs. College of Notre Dame...he pulled down a career-best seven rebounds vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff...tied his career high with four steals vs. BYU-Hawaii.
JOSHS JABS: Sophomore guard Josh Steinthal finished the season second for the team in scoring at 11.9 points per game...scored a career-high 23 points at Arizona Feb. 18, matching a school record with seven three-point field goals...tallied 20 points at Stanford and vs. USC...scored in double figures 15 times this season...had 57 threes for the season, tied for third for a season and 10th for a career in OSU history...had 153 three-point field goal attempts, fifth for a single season at OSUover the final five games he connected on 21 of 35 (600) from beyond the arcstarted the last 19 games...played a career-high 40 minutes vs. USC...had a career-high 19 field goal attempts vs. Washingtonover the last seven games he made 24 of 46 (.522) from three-point range and 10 of 35 (.286) from inside the three-point line.
HEIDES HYPE: Sophomore forward/center Jason Heide was third for the team for scoring (10.9) and second for rebounding (5.6)...scored a career-high 21 points at UCLAalso had a 20-point game vs. Chicago State and Washington State...had two double-doubles this season and three for his careerscored 20 or more points three times this seasontied his career-high with three blocked shots vs. the College of Notre Dame...shot .540 (115-213) from the field overallfourth in the Pac-10 for field goal percentagestarted the last eight games.
PETRAITIS PARTICULARS: Junior guard Ramunas Petraitis scored a double-double vs. UC Irvine (12 pts, 10 reb), and nearly achieved the same feat vs. UCLA (10 pts, 9 reb)...scored a career-high 17 points vs. Chicago State, and posted 15 vs. Arizona State...possibly the strongest and most physical player on the team...hit 25 of 75 (.333) from three-point range...had a career-high seven assists vs. College of Notre Dame...one of two Beavers (Tanner) to start every game this season.
CLIFF NOTES: Junior forward Clifton Jones averaged 5.0 points and a team-high 6.4 rebounds for the season...averaged 1.3 blocked shots, third in the Pac-10...his 36 blocked shots for the season is the eighth-best for a single season at OSUrejected six shots vs. Oregon, matching a school record...scored his first career double-double when he had 20 points and 11 rebounds at Washington State, and followed with a 10-point, 12-rebound effort vs. Arizona State, and 13 points and eight rebounds vs. Arizona...started 14 of the last 15 games...averaged 7.3 rebounds in conference action...tied for 11th in the conference for reboundingfinished the season with the highest rebounding average at OSU since Mustapha Hoff averaged 7.5 in 1994-95the best leaper on the teamhad nine rebounds at California...shot just .329 (23-70) from the free throw line...hit a pair of clutch free throws vs. BYU-Hawaii...knack for keeping the ball alive...blocked three shots in three games.
SASAS STATS: Senior forward Sasa Petrovic concluded his career averaging 1.8 points his senior season...the most experienced player in the program with 89 games played...started the first four games and 16 for his careerthe only senior player on the team .
ADAMS ANTICS: Freshman guard Adam Masten played in every game, and started four...he was one of the most improved players on the roster since the beginning of the season...averaged 3.4 points and 2.4 rebounds...started his first collegiate game vs. Chicago State and responded with six assists in 25 minutes...scored his collegiate career-high of 12 vs. Arizona State, hitting 3 of 4 from three-point range...had 11 points at Stanford, hitting 3 of 3 from three-point range...scored nine points vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff...hit a clutch free throw at the end of the OSU win over UCLA...matched his career-high with three steals vs. USChit 16 of 42 (.381) from three-point rangesecond for the team for assists with 52.
LAKE EFFECTS: Junior walk-on guard Josiah Lake played major minutes for OSU...he played in double figures for minutes nine times, including six of the last seven contests...scored a career-high 10 points vs. Washington...had seven points at Washington State and vs. Chicago State...had five rebounds vs. the College of Notre Dame.
SIGN ON THE DOTTED LINE: The Beavers received three national letters of intent during the week-long fall signing period, which ended Nov. 18. Brian Jackson and Mike Cokley, both of Knappa High School in Knappa, Ore., and Jimmy Haywood of Franklin High School in Seattle will join the club next fall. Jackson is a 610 forward who has a 21.2 career scoring average and is a member of the Orange County Registers "Fab 15." Cokley is a 510 guard who averaged 15 points, seven assists and five steals last season. Haywood is a 62" guard who averaged 14.5 points last season and is a member of the "Fab 15" second team. The Beavers have two scholarships to award, during the late signing period runs from April 7 to May 15.
