Beavers Bounce Ducks 76-71
Rick Morgan
"Well, it was the turnovers," said Oregon head coach Dana Altman. And indeed it was - 23 of them - that doomed the Ducks in the 336th Civil War Sunday afternoon at Matthew Knight Arena.
Converting those turnovers into 31 points - 20 in the second half - Oregon State stung the Ducks with a 76-71 victory.
"I was really disappointed," said Altman. "We did not execute . I don't want to take anything away from Oregon State because their length and athleticism gave us problems. But we did a poor job of handling the ball. Defensively in the second half was not one of our better efforts."
Jared Cunningham's 27 points paced the Beavers and three others reached double figures in handing Oregon their first loss in five outings.
Had Oregon been able to finish a few more plays offensively in the first twenty minutes of play, their 5-point halftime lead (28-23) could easily have been doubled or more.
Rebounding and defense gave rise to plenty of scoring chances but while holding the Beavers to a miserable 8-29 from the floor, Oregon could manage to do only marginally better, hitting for 35.7% .
The second half was a different story altogether. Defensively, Oregon struggled to get pressure on the shot and Oregon State was happy to oblige, sinking 16-28 second half shots (57.1%), including five for seven from distance.
Add those twenty second half turnovers and it is somewhat remarkable the Ducks were able to remain with a pair of possessions down the stretch.
After building a 12-point margin at 63-51, the Beavers had to fend off a furious Oregon rally that closed the margin to 73-70 inside the last minute.
Oregon could get no closer,
.
"I think it was what we didn't do, not what they did," said Oregon's Devoe Joseph. "Not to take anything away from Oregon State - they're a good team, but when we were aggressive . we got good shots and we got good looks."
Joseph led the Ducks with 26 points, hitting 8-16 from the floor and 5-8 from three. E.J. Singler added 16 points and Carlos Emory recorded his first double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
The loss dropped the Ducks to 15-6 on the season, 6-3 in conference and into a third place tie in the standings. Oregon State jumped back into the thick of the conference pack, improving their mark to 14-7, 4-5.
Now halfway through the conference schedule, Oregon heads to Utah (Feb 2) and Colorado (Feb 4) before returning to Matthew Knight Arena to host Washington (Feb 9) and Washington State (Feb 11).
