Players slipped on the condensation spots covering the court, Wayne Tinkle draped a Gatorade towel over his shoulder, and Ernie Kent aggressively wiped his face over and over again Thursday night in Corvallis as Oregon State grinded out a 55-50 win against Washington State.
“They’re undefeated at home for a reason,” Kent said following the loss. “The building’s on fire.”
Yes, it was hot in Gill Coliseum – probably caused by the heat radiating from Jarmal Reid’s body.
The junior forward shot 66 percent from the floor, and scored a career-high 20 points off the bench to keep OSU perfect at home this season (13-0). Sophomore guard Malcolm Duvivier added 15 points to an otherwise stone cold offensive effort – no other Beaver scored more than six.
OSU shot 38.9 percent from the floor, making just 21 baskets on 54 attempts, and was 3-for-14 from 3-point land. The Beavers also had trouble from the stripe, shooting only 45.5 percent.
The shaky offense is consistent with the rest of its season, where a different offensive hero seems to be necessary each game. Sometimes it’s Gary Payton II; sometimes it’s Langston Morris-Walker; Thursday night it was Reid. As long as the Beavers find one or two shooters to make plays offensively, the strong defense takes care of the rest.
For the Beavers’ weak offensive production, WSU’s was worse. The Cougars shot 37.3 percent from the field and 19 percent from beyond the arc, hitting only four 3-pointers on 21 attempts. WSU committed 12 turnovers, and lost out to Payton II on the boards – who had his seventh double-figure rebound game of the season with 11. Josh Hawkinson, who leads WSU this season in rebounds, brought down 10.
OSU also held Cougars leading scorer DaVonte Lacy, who scored 49 points during his last two outings, to five points. Of the 16 shots he took from the floor, Lacy made three, the last of which came with 13:19 left in the first half.
As the defense continues to churn out W’s for OSU, the postseason picture is starting to take form. At this point, the Beavers are certainly en route an NIT berth, but a bigger goal of an NCAA tournament bid is still within reach. OSU isn’t limitless – two consecutive losses in Arizona last week proved that – but Kent wasn’t wrong about the building being on fire either. Gill Coliseum is burning with a desire to do something the program hasn’t in 25 years. Half of the Beavers’ remaining eight games are at home, which positions OSU to finish 19-11 (10-8 Pac-12) even if it loses out on the road.
After trailing 8-0 four minutes in Thursday night, OSU battled back to within two to enter the half down 32-30. It conveniently went on an 11-2 run against the Cougars when Jim Anderson – on the 25th anniversary of his Pac-10 Coach of the Year award – sat down for an interview. Anderson coached the Beavers from 1989 to 1995, and his career in Corvallis has some similarities to Tinkle’s.
During his first season as head coach, Anderson led OSU to a winning record (22-7); Tinkle is on track to match that so far. Anderson had a guy in his line-up named Gary Payton; Tinkle has his son. Anderson led OSU to its most recent appearance in the big dance in 1990; right now, Tinkle is gearing up to take the Beavers back.
Something is in the air in Corvallis, and it might be an echo.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
