What a difference two days makes.
Barely removed from its worst offensive performance of the season Thursday night in Seattle, Oregon State shut down the Cougars Saturday night in Pullman, 62-47, to split its road trip through the Washington schools.
The fatigue and messy ball handling the Beavers struggled with against the Huskies was a distant memory, as OSU controlled the tempo of the game at both ends of the floor. The defense held the typically fast paced Washington State offense to 24 percent shooting from the field in the first half, allowing only 16 points. The Cougars barely improved during the second half, and finished the game shooting 29.2 percent from the field, to OSU’s 48.8 percent.
“There’s a reason that we do this mostly day in and day out,” said Beavers coach Wayne Tinkle about OSU’s defense. “After 16 or how many ever games we’ve played, the numbers are still there.”
The Beavers continued to limit production in the paint with the 2-3 zone, as they have all season, and exploited WSU’s poor 3-point shooting – the Cougars were 5-for-25, and rank 10th in the conference – by pushing the Cougars beyond the perimeter nearly every trip down the floor.
WSU never quite found its footing – senior guard DaVonte Lacy, who played only 29 minutes with a sore knee, was scoreless in the first half, and sophomore guard Que Johnson lost a shoe on an in-bounds pass four minutes before the break.
Needless to say, the Cougars never led the game.
And, in the midst of WSU’s breakdown, the Beavers discovered something proverbial: patience is a virtue.
By slowing down its opponent’s offensive production with a stellar defensive effort, OSU was able to control the pacing on the other side of the floor and create some quality shot opportunities. Junior guard Langston Morris-Walker took advantage, and ended up with a career night.
“Coach is trying to get me to be a smarter player out there,” said Morris-Walker, who opened OSU’s scoring campaign with a slam dunk, and ended it with a free throw. “I had 22 points but I only took seven shots, so that’s what I’m really excited about.”
A more patient attitude was effective for Morris-Walker, who shot 5-for-7 from the floor, and 3-for-4 from 3-point range. He added 11 rebounds to complete the double-double. Junior guard Gary Payton II supplemented with a double-double of his own, with 13 each of points and rebounds, and added five steals to increase his conference-leading average to 2.94 per game.
The Beavers improve to 12-5 (3-2 Pac-12) with the victory, and host UCLA Thursday night at 6 p.m. The Bruins enter Corvallis cruising on a three-game winning streak, after sweeping the California schools during the last two weeks, and rank No. 4 in the Pac-12 in scoring, averaging 73.3 points per game (the Beavers rank last at 64.4).
OSU looks to defend its undefeated streak this season at Gill Coliseum, but will need to maintain Saturday night’s offensive momentum if it hopes to turn UCLA’s California dreamin’ into a nightmare.
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