Oregon State

Jared Cunningham scored 20 points to help Oregon State pound Utah 76-58 in a Pac-12 Conference men's basketball game Saturday.

Cunningham, who scored 27 in an upset of Oregon last week, hit seven of 16 shots from the field and six free throws to help the Beavers win for the fourth time in five games.

Devon Coliier added 14 points on 6-fof-10 shooting and Joe Burton added eight points and 11 rebounds for Oregon State, which improved to 15-8 overall, 5-6 in Pac-12 play.

The Beavers missed all nine of their three-point attempts, but finished hitting 46 percent of their field-goal attempts.

Oregon State plays host to Washington State on Thursday.

Oregon State missed an opportunity for a huge upset win when a last-second three-point attempt bounced away at the buzzer and allowed Stanford to exit Gill Coliseum with a 103-101 victory after four overtimes in Pac-12 Conference men's basketball play Saturday.

Jared Cunningham scored 19 points and Devon Collier had 16 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Beavers. Joe Burton added 18 points and Eric Morland had six of the team's 11 blocked shots, which set a team record for a single game.

OSU had never before played four overtimes, and matched its highest point total in a conference game.

Cunningham played 54 of the game's 60 minutes.

"Well, that was one to remember, even though we didn't win," Oregon State head coach Craig Robinson told media afterward. "I couldn't be happier with my team. I thought they fought hard. Tonight they realized that they can play with anybody in the country."

The Beavers, who beat Cal on Thursday, dropped to 11-5 overall and 1-3 in conference action. Stanford is 13-3, 3-1.

OREGON STATE 92, CALIFORNIA 85

Oregon State won its first Pac-12 Confernce men's basketball game behind dual 24-point games from Jared Cunningham and Ahmad Starks Thursday night.

The Beavers surpassed 90 points for the seventh time this season - a school record - and beat California 92-85 at Gill Coliseum.

OSU led by as many as 16 points in the second half, but needed a 9-3 run to pull away after the Bears had rallied to with 77-73.

"I couldn't be more proud of our team and our effort, especially coming off a weekend (losses to UW and WSU) like we had," Oregon State head coach Craig Robinson told media after the game. "I knew that if we could take care of the start, and it almost didn't look like we were going to down 5-0, that we would play well and go toe-to-toe with them."

The Beavers (11-4, 1-2) play host to Stanford Saturday night.

After enduring its first 0-4 start under Mike Riley, the Oregon State football team has a chance to get a win streak going Saturday when it plays host to Brigham Young at Reser Stadium.

The Beavers finally got into the win column with a 37-27 victory over Arizona, a win that helped the Wildcats remove coach Mike Stoops earlier this week.

Brigham Young isn't in the leadership state the Wildcats were when they visited Corvallis, and figures to be a much tougher opponent with a 4-2 record. The Cougars have a win at Mississippi and lost 14-13 at Texas in their first two games. Their other loss came in their home opener against Utah. The Utes ton 54-10.

OSU plays at Utah in two weeks.

Oregon State will have the challenge of matching other team's defensively against the Cougars. BYU has not scored more than 29 points in a game, which it did in a 29-16 win over San Jose State. The Cougars have won their four games by an average of just six points.

OSU got another solid offensive performance last week, with quarterback Sean Mannion throwing for 297 yards and two touchdowns, and Jovan Stevenson getting 99 yards on the ground. The Beavers racked up 27 points in the second quarter and survived a comeback attempt with two key defensive stands in the fourth quarter.

Arizona quarterback Nick Foles threw for 378 yards, but had just one TD pass.

Oregon State might not have a win this college football season, but the Beavers haven't been losing badly enough to make the nation disrespect their potential.

Heading into Saturday's home game with Arizona, the Beavers are a one-point underdog to the betting community.

The Beavers have an improving passer in Sean Mannion, who set school records for completions (40) and attempts (66) in a 35-20 loss at Arizona State last week, and a potentially explosive running game behind freshman Malcolm Agnew. And, Arizona is 1-3 overall.

Game time is 12:40 at Reser Stadium.

The Beavers should be 1-3, but lost their season opener to Sacramento State in overtime. That loss is coupled with losses to Wisconsin, UCLA and Arizona State. The losses to the Bruins and Sun Devils were competitive games into the fourth quarter.

Mannion is averaging 253 yards through the air and Agnew ran for 223 yards before suffering a slight injury against Sac State, which has kept him out of the past three games.

The Oregon State Beavers saw how to react to a huge upset win Saturday on their home field, now it's their chance to capture the same feeling for themselves.

OSU lost to Sacramento State of the Big Sky Conference at Reser Stadium in overtime Saturday, and gets Big Ten favorite Wisconsin this weekend - in Madison, Wisc.

The Badgers, ranked 8th, enter the game at 1-0 after pummeling UNLV 51-7 Saturday.

Making the game even more of an upset opportunity is the loss of freshman running back Marcus Agnew to a hamstring injury suffered in practice. Agnew ran for 223 yards and three touchdowns against the Hornets, but will not play Saturday.

Senior James Rodgers also will not play.

The Beavers are still in limbo at quarterback, too, after Ryan Katz and Sean Mannion split time last week.

Game time is 9 a.m.

"We have obviously a big challenge ahead of us," Beavers coach Mike Riley said this week. "A lot of this will be a mental factor for our team. I think if we can, in some fashion, take that last game and learn a lot from it, and then focus, then we'll play a better football game."

The Beavers have the week off after Saturday to prepare for a home game against UCLA.

Sacramento State, a team not even predicted to win the Big Sky Conference, handed Oregon State a frustrating loss Saturday in the college football opener for both teams.

The visiting Hornets scored with a two-point conversion on their possession in overtime and beat the Beavers 29-28 before 41,581 fans at Reser Stadium.

OSU got 233 yards and three touchdowns from freshman Malcolm Agnew and freshman Sean Mannion took over in the second half at quarterback and rallied the team from a 21-6 deficit into a tie score.

The Beavers missed winning the game by inches as regulation time ran out when a 27-yard field-goal attempt by Trevor Romaine hit the right upright, forcing overtime.

Agnew scored on a 17-yard run and Romaine, who kicked two field goals earlier in the game, hit the point-after, but the Hornets scored when Brandyn Reed caught a 6-yard pass from Jeff Fleming and the duo hooked up for the two-point conversion and the win.

Fleming threw three touchdown passes in the game.

Oregon State played eight true freshmen, a record for a game under coach Mike Riley.

After a season of promise that unraveled due to injuries, Oregon State will be significantly challenged to reach a bowl game this season, although that level of accomplishment might suggest big things for next season.

Coach Mike Riley, according to Corvallis Gazette-Time reporter Cliff Kirkpatrick, plans to play at least seven true freshmen this season, which never says good things about a team's returning strength.

But OSU has regularly found ways to play above expectations and a bowl bid this year would be above expectations. The team needs, as does any team, a healthy dose of ... health, particularly to receiver James Rodgers and quarterback Ryan Katz.

Rodgers will graduate after the season, but Katz is only a junior, so they can build off him in his second year as a starter.

The Beavers open their season Satuday at Reser Stadium against Sacramento State of the Big Sky Conference.

Oregon State plays at Big 10 title contender Wisconsin, Sept. 10.

A drab season for Oregon State and a hopeful season for Oregon both got sparks Wednesday in the opening round of the Pac-10 men's basketball tournament when the Beavers and Ducks won their opening round games at the Staples Center.

Oregon State beat Stanford 69-67, and Oregon beat Arizona State 76-69.

Oregon 76, Arizona State 69
E.J. Singler scored a career-high 22 points, including four 3-pointers, to lead the Ducks past the Sun Devils.

Oregon went 11-of-19 from 3-point range, the most given up by the 10th-seeded Sun Devils this season. Singler’s four 3s tied his career high as the Ducks snapped a four-game losing streak. They beat Arizona State for the first time since March 6, 2008.

The seventh-seeded Ducks (15-16) advanced to Thursday’s quarterfinals against No. 2 seed UCLA.

Oregon State 69, Stanford 67
Jared Cunningham scored 24 points, including 15 of 20 free throws to lead the Beavers, who ending a five-year tournament losing streak.

Devon Collier added 19 points, Ahmad Starks 15 points and Joe Burton had 14 rebounds for the ninth-seeded Beavers (11-19), who hadn’t won a tournament game since March 8, 2006, when they beat Arizona State.

OSU plays top seed Arizona Thursday.

Heading into a season of expected success, the Oregon State men's basketball team did just what Beaver Nation hoped for or even expected - they swept their opening weekend games for a 2-0 start in Pac-10 play.

The Beavers beat Arizona State Thursday, then bumped off Arizona 76-75 in a dramatic game Sunday to improve to 7-6 overall, 2-0 in conference play. Calvin Haynes had 18 points and Jared Cunningham added 17 points - two on a ferocious dunk that'll make the season highlight video.

Arizona, which beat Oregon Thursday, dropped to 12-3, 1-1.

The OSU men were the only in-state team to win during the opening weekend of conference play. Oregon's men and women and OSU's women all dropped their first two games to UA and ASU, although OSU's women lost both games by a combined five points.

Next up, the schools play at Washington and Washington State. The Washington men were the preseason pick to win the Pac-10 title, while OSU was picked for eighth.

CORVALLIS -- Twelve wins, 592 points and approximately a bazillion mascot pushups later, the Ducks finally have their shot at a national championship. The Beavers? Well, better luck next year, fellas.

Oregon defeated Oregon State 37-20 Saturday in the 114th Civil War in front of a raucous and record-setting crowd of 46,469 at Reser Stadium, finishing Pac-10 play undefeated and unofficially but undeniably cementing their date with destiny in the NCAA Championship Game.

Running backs LaMichael James and Kenjon Barner combined for 267 rushing yards and 4 total touchdowns, and four Oregon players snagged an interception in a surprising defensive lockdown by the Ducks. Rising Oregon State star Marcus Wheaton was a bright spot, collecting 11 catches for 140 yards and a touchdown, but offensive staples Jacquizz Rodgers (87 rushing yards) and Ryan Katz (24 for 41 passing, 227 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT) just couldn’t get it going.  

For the #2 ranked Ducks, beating up on their little brothers to the north earned them a much-anticipated confrontation with #1 Auburn in Glendale, Arizona this January. Auburn took care of business against #19 South Carolina Saturday to punch their own championship ticket.

For the Beavers, the loss meant a hot shower and the end to a long, frustrating season that saw the program take a major step backward by not qualifying for a bowl game despite big time wins over Arizona and USC.

The heavily-favored Ducks led just 16-7 at halftime, but stuck to their season-long script of second half dominance, breaking the third quarter ice early with a fake punt that resulted in a 64-yard run by Michael Clay, and eventually a 19-yard touchdown hookup between Darron Thomas and D.J. Davis to make it 23-7.

Meanwhile, the OSU defense held their ground the rest of the third quarter and into the fourth, but the offense only managed to come away with two field goals despite a pair of deep red zone drives. And when Barner finally broke free for a 23-yard touchdown run early in the fourth for a 30-13 Oregon lead, the outcome seemed all but a formality. Oregon’s James and OSU’s Wheaton would each contribute late-game touchdowns for their respective teams to close out the scoring in what would turn out to be a blowout win for the Ducks.

Early into Saturday’s game, however, a series of miscues and sloppy plays made it appear that another David vs. Goliath upset might be brewing in Corvallis.

Oregon drew first blood on the very first offensive play of the game when Oregon State quarterback Ryan Katz dropped back for a pass and was viciously slammed to the turf. He writhed in pain for several moments before getting up and retreating to the safety of the sideline for a few plays.

Beaver Brandon Hardin made a nice special teams play on the ensuing punt, forcing a Cliff Harris fumble to regain the ball, but Katz gave it right back to the Ducks on the very next play thanks to a tipped pass that was intercepted.

Oregon, however, seemed intent on giving the ball right back again, botching a handoff that was recovered by Oregon State. This time the Beavs took advantage, putting together a lengthy 15-play drive that culminated in an aerial end zone delivery from Katz to Rodgers that gave OSU the early 7-0 lead.

Oregon responded with a quick and efficient scoring jaunt of their own, punctuated by a Barner touchdown scamper and a butterfingered extra point snap that resulted in a block to make it 7-6.   

But as the Oregon offense began to heat up, the Oregon State attack sputtered, and the Ducks were able to add a field goal and another touchdown on a run by James to take a 16-7 halftime lead.

In the game‘s closing minutes, chants of “BCS! BCS!” engulfed Reser Stadium from the Duck faithful who had made the trip to Corvallis. Oregon is expected to battle Auburn for the national championship on Monday, January 10th.

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READ CLIFF PFENNING'S SALUTE TO OSU:  Hey Beavs, thanks for helping the Ducks make ABC happy

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