Oregon State was almost a minute into a 6-0 scoring run when head coach Wayne Tinkle turned to the crowd behind him and raised his arms three times, urging them to get loud.
The scoreboard showed four minutes and 55 second left in the game with the Beavers up by 12. Tinkle wanted more. Oregon scored moments later, but the Beavers put another small run together and put another knife in any hopes of an Oregon comeback.
With it came Oregon State’s first sweep over Oregon since the 2009-10 season, and Tinkle knew it, but he also knew how tight the Pac-12 is.
“I will say this, this week was more about the big league game than a rivalry game in our practices, in our meetings,” Tinkle said. “We talked about the way things were going with other teams. We just needed to stay focused on our business and that was winning a home league game here down the stretch.”
Oregon State defeated Oregon 72-57 Saturday night at Gill Coliseum, putting Oregon State at second in the Pac-12 and dropping Oregon to eighth. Oregon’s night was marred by scoring droughts and 18 turnovers, giving the Beavers the openings they needed to pull away.
The night started well for Oregon. Freshman forward Louis King hit two early threes and a layup to help give Oregon a 17-10 lead with 12:20 left in the half.
But after that, the streaky scoring commenced. Oregon State crawled back to cut the lead to one but Oregon grew it back to seven, only to go cold. Oregon’s points over the final 5:45 came from three free throws and they turned the ball over four times. The halftime lead was one point.
“They were taking the middle away for the most part in their zone,” forward Paul White said. “I think we were just rushing certain shots or just weren’t looking for the best shots. They played pretty well defensively, for us it was just one of those games where it just wasn’t going in.”
Oregon’s second half was worse. Guard Payton Pritchard fouled Stephen Thompson Jr. on the way down from a 3-pointer while the ball went through the net.
Oregon State pressed on the inbounds and Paul White’s overhead pass across the floor flew out of bounds. The next possession, Oregon State’s Ethan Thompson grabbed an offensive rebound, went for the layup, made it and drew the foul. Tres Tinkle hit a layup three minutes later, giving Oregon State a 9-0 run to start the second half and take a 36-28 lead.
“That’s not a very good formula for winning on the road,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said. “We’ve got a lot to learn, and got a lot to grow from. But yeah, that second half was not very good.”
Oregon fought back and retook the lead. Oregon State’s domination started from there. The Beavers went on to score 45 points in the second half while the Ducks got 29. Thompson Jr. exploded and led Oregon State’s multiple runs. He finished with a game-high 22 points, going 4-of-8 from the three.
Oregon did not muster a comeback. White and King were the consistent scorers. King finished with 20 points and White 12. Nobody else had over seven points.
Oregon has six games left this regular season, four of which are on the road. There is still a window for the Ducks to jump into the top four of the Pac-12, thus earning a bye in the conference tournament.
“A lot of people have got to get a lot better,” Altman said. “We’ve got the last month of the season here and we got to go on the road four times, so we’re going to have play better and be much more disciplined.”
Follow Jack Butler on Twitter @Butler917
