While Oregon State has traditionally struggled to win games away from Corvallis under Wayne Tinkle, the Beavers grabbed one at the Jenny Craig Pavilion Saturday against the San Diego Toreros. OSU rallied to pick up a 78-76 overtime result to end their recent stretch of contests in the state of California. The Beavers also won at Loyola Marymount earlier this week.
Johan Munch finished as the Beavers’ leading scorer with 15 points, also adding nine rebounds. Guards Josiah Lake and Dez White also recorded 12 points apiece, with Lake dishing out eight assists and grabbing five rebounds.
In the first half, the difference was free throws. OSU went to the line eight times, making seven. Oregon State’s bigs made a significant impact, with Johan Munch, Olavi Suutela, Noah Amenhauser and Jorge Diaz Graham combining for 19 points. San Diego only took two free throws in the opening 20 minutes. The Beavers managed to take a 30-25 lead into the halftime break.
The second half was equally competitive, with both sides struggling on the offensive end. Neither the Beavs or the Toreros had a second-chance point in the second half. With 1:45 remaining in the second half, Oregon State found themselves down by ten, 59-49. However, the Beavs hit three three-pointers and Munch threw down a dunk to tie the game at 60-60. USD failed to tie the game on the final possession of regulation.
In overtime, the two sides traded punches with Oregon State again taking advantage of frequent trips to the free-throw line. The Beavers made ten of their 16 free-throw attempts in the extra period, but only three field goals. That would be enough to close out a 78-76 win, despite San Diego hitting two three-pointers inside the final 30 seconds.
Oregon State finished with a field goal percentage of 40.3 as they added a slight improvement to their resume to end the month of January.
The win moves Oregon State to 12-12 overall on the season with a record of 5-6 in conference play. The Beavers are 3-5 in road contests this year. They won’t have too much time to soak in the SoCal sunshine before returning home to take on Washington State at 8 p.m. PT on Wednesday, February 4.
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