Drew Eubanks had 23 points and 16 rebounds.  Stevie Thompson Jr. had 17 points and 9 rebounds.  Ben Koné had his first career start, and put up a total of four points and had two rebounds.  But all of this wasn’t enough to stop Savannah State University.

The Oregon State men’s basketball team struggled defensively against Savannah State (3-8) in Sunday’s 93-90 overtime loss.  OSU allowed 50 points in the first half; allowing Robert Kelly Jr. to hit a career high with 24 points and nine rebounds.

“We just didn’t make the plays to win the game,” said head coach Wayne Tinkle.  “We need to be more aggressive.”

Oregon State started off the game up 7-0, but then lost their lead with 11:47 left in the first period.  They regained the lead when Stevie Thompson Jr. hit a three-pointer late in the second period, which brought the score up to 62-61.  From there, the remainder of the game was back and forth; not having more than a six-point spread in the score.

“In the first half, we didn’t take away anything from them,” said Tinkle.  “We let them drive to the basket and score; and get 3-pointers.  So that’s the frustrating thing. For some reason, we couldn’t stop them.”

“We gave them easy drives to the basket, and we can’t do that,” said Thompson Jr.

The Beavers tied it the game at 84 after McLaughlin’s three-pointer with 1:28 to play.  No points were made in the remaining time after that; which pushed the game into overtime.  OSU was able to score first in OT, but ultimately ended up losing the game 93-90.  They could not stop SSU from scoring.

“We got the ball where we wanted to offensively,” said Tinkle.  “It was just the guarding, the one-on-ones, and then they would blow past us.”

With the Beavers record now 3-7, and leading scorer Tres Tinkle still out due to injury, the team looks towards their more experienced players for some leadership.  This falls on the shoulders of the two sophomores Thompson Jr. and Eubanks, as they are the team’s most experienced players.

“[As leaders], we need to be more vocal,” said Eubanks.  “We, [Thompson and Eubanks], have been here before; so we need to talk the young guys through it.  We all just need to be more vocal; and I need to be more of a leader than I have been.”