Beavers Close Regular Season at #17 Oregon

The Beavers lead the all-time series against the Ducks, 180-146.

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CORVALLIS - The Oregon State men’s basketball team (11-19, 3-14 Pac-10) closes out the regular season with a trip down the road to Eugene and the 327th edition of the hardwood Civil War, presented by the Northwest Dodge Dealers.

A Beaver win on Saturday would erase a bunch of negative figures: 13 straight losses at McArthur Court, nine straight losses to ranked Oregon teams and an 0-9 record against ranked teams this year, to name a few.

GAME #31 — Saturday at McArthur Court: Oregon State at Oregon (22-7, 10-7, #17 AP, #18 ESPN/USA Today) at 3:00 PM.

ON TELEVISION

The Oregon game will be televised by the Oregon Sports Network, which includes KEZI-9 in Eugene and KRCW-32 in Portland/Salem.

ON THE RADIO

Oregon State’s games can be heard live on the radio on the Beaver Sports Network (which includes 18 stations throughout the Northwest, including KEX 1190 AM in Portland/Salem and KEJO 1240 AM in Corvallis/Albany.

OREGON SERIES

The Beavers lead the all-time series against the Ducks, 180-146.

The 180 victories are the most by one school against another in NCAA Division I history.

The 326 games played are the most by two schools in NCAA Division I history.

The home team had won six straight meetings in the series before the Ducks won at Gill Coliseum on Dec. 30th.

The Beavers haven’t won at McArthur Court since 1993 (13 straight losses).

OSU has lost the last nine meetings in which Oregon was nationally ranked in the AP poll (last winning in 1975).

CIVIL WAR SERIES

The year-long competition between OSU and Oregon is currently tied 6-6.

The Civil War Series, presented by the Northwest Dodge Dealers, is now in its eighth year.

OSU has won the last two years by record 12-5 margins.

After Saturday’s game, the remaining events are men’s and women’s golf (March 26th-27th) and softball (April 6th, 7th and 25th).

LAST GAME VS. OREGON

Back on Dec. 30th, the Beavers got off to a strong start against #20 Oregon in Gill Coliseum, but couldn’t maintain their advantage and lost to the then-unbeaten Ducks, 76-73.

OSU hit 13 of its first 18 shots (72.2%) en route to a 30-19 lead with 7:28 left in the first half.

But the Ducks closed the half on a 22-4 run to go ahead 41-34 at the break.

Oregon built a 12-point second-half lead, and although OSU rallied to get within three points in the final minute, the Beavers never had a chance to tie it up.

The Beavers shot 51.7% for the game, the first time a Duck opponent had made more than half of its shots.

Marcel Jones and Sasa Cuic each scored 16 points to lead five OSU players in double-figures (the only time that’s happened this season).

Free throws (17-for-21, 81.0% for Oregon, 8-for-14, 57.1% for OSU) were the big difference.

LAST GAME

The Beavers gave another strong effort and came very close to knocking off #9 Washington State last Saturday, but the Cougars pulled away for a 58-54 win at Gill Coliseum.

OSU led by five (32-27) at halftime and was up seven (45-38) with 11 minutes to go.

The Cougars then went on a 9-0 run (all by reserve center Aron Baynes) to take the lead.

OSU never led again, but would come back to tie the game five times down the stretch, last at 54-54 with 1:03 remaining on a Wesley Washington lay-up.

WSU’s Mac Hopson hit a jumper with 38 seconds remaining.

On the next possession, OSU missed a three-pointer, got the rebound but then turned the ball over.

WSU clinched the win with two free throws with 8.7 seconds remaining.

Marcel Jones led the Beavers with 16 points. OSU shot 37.5% to WSU’s 50.0%.

MORE NOTES FROM LAST GAME

OSU’s five-point halftime lead was notable on many counts.

WSU improved to 7-1 overall when trailing at the half.

It was only the third time the Cougars trailed at halftime in Pac-10 play and it was their biggest halftime deficit.

For OSU, it was only the fifth time leading at the half in Pac-10 play and tied its biggest margin at the half in conference play.

But the Beavers fell to 9-3 overall and 2-3 in the Pac-10 when leading at halftime.

Kyle Jeffers pulled down 10 rebounds, his fifth time this season in double-figures.

WSU committed only six turnovers, the first time this year the Beavers failed to force at least 10.

OSU committed only eight turnovers, one shy of the season low.

PAC-10 TOURNAMENT

Regardless of what happens this weekend, the Beavers will be the #9 seed and will play in the opening game of the 2007 Pac-10 Conference Tournament next Wednesday (March 7th) at 6:00 PM.

OSU will meet either California or Washington.

A victory in that game would put the Beavers into the quarterfinals, where they would face the #1 seed on Thursday (March 8th) at 2:30 PM.

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