The No. 4 Beavers Men’s Basketball team took a while to show up in the Las Vegas West Coast Conference quarterfinals, but when they did, they came out with a bang.
The game ended with a 78-77 win for the Beavs against a strong San Francisco team on Sunday, March 8 at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, catapulting them to the semi-finals on Monday.
“We got some huge, huge step ups from guys off the bench,” outgoing Beaver Head Coach Wayne Tinkle said after the game. “Those guys kind of gave us the jump start that we needed after such a poor start offensively from that initial group.”
Tinkle was fired as head coach on Feb. 26, but chose to coach the rest of the season with the Beavers.
The Beavers came off on the wrong foot right off the bat, giving away a wide-open 3-pointer to freshman guard Legend Smiley and causing five turnovers before their first points.
50% of the shots for the Beavers in the first six minutes were attempted from outside the arch – zero went in.
The Beavers went scoreless for six and a half minutes into the first half, one of the worst starts to a game the Beavers have had this season.
It was only after a line change that the Beavers found their footing. Oregon State guard Dez White came in with 16 minutes left in the half, and made an instant impact. He hit two 3-pointers, leading to a 11-4 run to make the game 15-11 San Francisco.
After coming in with 15 minutes left in the half, junior Noah Amenhauser also helped to switch the momentum with a contested offensive rebound and an and-one he capitalized on.
San Francisco Head Coach Chris Gerlufsen said that the “three-ball” made the difference in shifting the momentum to the Beavers favor.
“We started off really well, and punched them early,” Gerlufsen said. “To their credit, they responded…we let their most-known guy on the scouting report from three go six-of-eight.”
White continued to sink threes, scoring 12 of the Beavers 30 points in the first half, all of them coming from beyond the arch. He did not miss a single shot. He would end the game with 18 points, one of his highest scoring performances of the season.
White had been out for two-weeks with a shoulder injury preceding this game.
“It felt great to get back out there with my brothers and the coaching staff, all the trust they put in me, just to be able to go out there and put it on the line for them,” White said.
Beaver bench players came out with a force in their first half shifts, changing a game that started as a nightmare to a two-point game going into half.
Despite the score, San Francisco dominated the first half. Throughout the regular season, the Beavers averaged 12 turnovers per game. Against San Francisco, they recorded nine turnovers in the first half.
“We couldn’t hit our asses with either hand there for a while,” Tinkle said after the game. “But in the timeouts, we weren’t panicking. We said, hey, this is how they started yesterday. They got it going. Just hang in there.”
Tinkle pinpointed White and Amenhauser’s performance from off the bench to give the starting lineup the confidence they needed to finish the game and continue competing.
Oregon State pushed hard out of the halftime break, with Josiah Lake II tying it up after a quiet first half. Oregon State took the lead after a 3-pointer from Isaiah Sy and another from White.
“I didn’t really have the best first half,” Lake II said. “But the coaches and my teammates told me to stay in it, so all props to them.”
Despite only two points in the first half, Lake II would end the game with 18 points and seven assists.
A significant shift was facilitated again by Amenhauser when he put up a decisive block on the defensive end, following a wide-open three converted by freshman forward Olavi Suutela. The combined play forced a San Francisco timeout on the floor.
Bench power was furthered with sophomore Keziah Ekissi after subbing into the second half, scoring two 3-point plays to put Oregon State up 57-50.
Another player off the bench was 6-foot-11 Yaak Yaak, as the center from Australia pulled up from beyond the arch with four minutes left to break the tie and give the Beavers a three-point lead. The points led to a 8-0 run for the Beavers, spurred on by another 3-pointer from Lake II.
With 17 seconds left in the game, San Francisco brought up the pressure, bringing it to 75-72 for the Beavers after another well-timed 3-pointer from Smiley.
The Dons tried to bring the Beavers to the line to close the margin, but Lake II and Jorge Diaz-Graham went five-for-six on their free throws, just enough to hold off the Dons offense and end the game 78-77.
With the result, the Beavers will stay in Vegas to face-off against No. 1 Gonzaga for the semifinals of the WCC tournament at 6:00 pm on Monday, March 9. The game will be available to stream on the ESPN network.
