The roar from Gill Coliseum echoed across campus as the clock ticked down. 

With 3.8 seconds left, Je’Shawn Stevenson brought the ball up for North Texas but was trapped and forced to call a timeout. The issue: the Mean Green were out of timeouts.

Head coach Daniyal Robinson was then assessed a technical foul with one second on the clock, as the crowd chanted, “You can’t do that.” This then led to two free throws for the Beavers.

Josiah Lake II stepped to the line, took a deep breath, and drilled both technical free throws to seal the improbable 66-64 win for the Beavers. 

“The crowd really got into it at the end,” Head Coach Wayne Tinkle said. “I can’t wait until they start showing up in earnest you know, the ones that were there were awesome and loud, we got to get more folks here following this group.”

The electricity inside Gill fueled Oregon State to complete a stunning comeback against the North Texas Mean Green, pulling off the 66-64 win on Wednesday night. The victory propelled the Beavers to a 3-0 start to the season. 

Oregon State opened fast with back to back 3-pointers from Johan Munch and Matija Samar, and quickly took control of the paint with three emphatic blocks from Yaak Yaak and Munch. 

The teams traded baskets throughout the first half until North Texas went on a 5-0 run behind key shots from Will McClendon and Stevenson, giving the Mean Green a 16-10 lead. 

Oregon State struggled with sloppy turnovers and poor ball control, unable to find any offensive rhythm. North Texas played with intensity, crashing the boards and fighting for every loose ball. 

That hustle was on display when Buddy Hammer Jr. dove into the Oregon State bench for a rebound at the 10-minute mark. 

The Beavers looked slow and outmatched, unable to keep up with North Texas’s pace. With about five minutes left in the half, the Mean Green flipped the script in the paint and went on a 7-0 run to take a 29-17 lead. 

After a few free throws and more turnovers, North Texas went into halftime ahead 29-21. 

North Texas dominated the interior with a 14-6 advantage in paint points and led 6-0 in fast break points. Oregon State needed a spark. 

“We challenged our guys to do a better job in pick and roll coverage because they were getting downhill on us,” Tinkle said. “The symbols that I drew up on the board challenged their manhood a little bit to keep the ball in front. A bigger part of it was our guys drawing a line in the sand and saying we’re not gonna let a team come in here and out tough us and beat us in our house.” 

The second half started sluggishly for the Beavers. Every time Oregon State tried to chip away at the lead, North Texas answered with a 3-pointer from Demarion Watson or more inside scoring from Dylan Arnett. 

The Mean Green extended their lead to 45-32 with 14 minutes remaining. 

Oregon State’s Isaiah Sy hit clutch 3-pointers to keep the Beavers alive, but McClendon responded with back to back shots from deep to keep North Texas ahead. 

Then the momentum shifted. Keziah Ekissi stole the ball and passed to Munch for a powerful dunk that made it 61-55. 

The crowd erupted, shaking the arena. 

McClendon quieted the noise momentarily with an and-one play to extend the lead to 64-57, but Munch answered again with a steal, a dunk, and a made free throw to cut it to 64-60. 

Oregon State’s defense tightened up, forcing turnovers and narrowing the gap to 64-62 with 20 seconds left. 

After UNT missed key free throws, Lake II drove to the basket, drew a foul, and calmly sank both free throws to tie the game at 64 with four seconds remaining. 

The game then fell into the Mean Green’s hands to win the game, yet a costly timeout chose to be the difference maker. In basketball, if a coach or player takes a timeout when the team has none left, the timeout gets granted, yet the coach receives a technical foul.

This led to free throws that Tinkle decided Lake II would take, and he sank both as the crowd watched in complete silence.

A last second heave by McClendon clanked off the side of the rim, and the buzzer sounded.

Oregon State follows the improbable win by traveling to Eugene to play the University of Oregon on Nov. 17 at Matthew Knight Arena.