Following an incredible comeback Monday night that resulted in an 80-74 overtime victory over Oakland, Oregon State will compete for its first eight-team regular season tournament title since 1989.
The Beavers defeated the Golden Grizzlies in overtime in the Diamond Head Classic semifinals in Honolulu after erasing a 12-point deficit in the last four minutes of regulation.
At 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oregon State (10-2) will take on Nebraska (9-2) in the championship game. Nebraska defeated Hawaii 69-55 to secure a trip to the finals. The 1989 Far West Classic was the Beavers’ most recent victory in an eight-team regular season event.
As a head coach, I’ve had some really good moments. “This is one of the best groups to be proud of,” Oregon State coach Wayne Tinkle told reporters.
Liutauras Lelevicius led Oregon State with a career-high 17 points and nailed a game-winning three-pointer with 12.8 seconds remaining in regulation. Damarco Minor and Josiah Lake II each tallied 11 points, while Michael Rataj scored 13.
Oregon State ended regulation on a 15-3 surge to force OT after falling down 68-56 with four minutes left. The Beavers scored the last nine points of overtime to defeat the Golden Grizzlies.
In the last nine minutes of the game, Oregon State scored 24-6 more points than Oakland.
According to Tinkle, the Beavers had trouble handling Oakland’s toughness for the majority of the game, but in the last five minutes, he was able to find a combination that worked.
After making a little offensive tweak, we began to get some stops, hit some shots, and battled through some minor setbacks with a few foul calls. “Unbelievable return,” Tinkle remarked.
Oakland highlighted Oregon State’s defense, which is ranked in the top 10 in the nation for both field goal defense and scoring. Before the Beavers defense took control, the Golden Grizzlies, who defeated Loyola (Chicago) in the quarterfinals, shot more than 50% of the time. Oakland (4-8) failed to score in the last 3:44 of overtime and missed seven of its last eight shots.
Allen Mukeba led the Golden Grizzlies with 21 points and made 10 of 10 field goals.
For the first time since the 1989–90 season, Oregon State will be 11-2 if they win the Diamond Head Classic.
Tinkle remarked, “We said when we left Corvallis that it’s uncommon to compete for a championship in the middle of the season, so let’s take advantage of it.” We took a gamble on ourselves. We are aware that we have an uphill battle ahead of us in this next game. But tonight, we matured.
Tinkle awarded reserve post Matthew Marsh, a 7-foot-1 transfer who played 16 minutes, some of the credit. Marsh finished with six points, four rebounds, and the game-winning slam in overtime.
We were defeated by them. Simply put, we weren’t prepared for the right. Matt Marsh was really important to us. There was no shot blocking present. We lacked a presence for rebounding. Early in the first half, we went to him, and we rolled with him the rest of the way. “He was enormous,” Tinkle remarked.
After playing catch-up for the majority of the first half, Oregon State led 34-34 at the intermission. Oakland led by seven points early on after making its first three shots to open a 6-0 lead. After putting up a fight, the Beavers eventually tied the score at 19-19 thanks to a three-pointer by Lake.
After Malcolm Christie made a three-pointer on the Golden Grizzlies’ last first-half possession, Oregon State settled for a halftime tie after leading by as much as four points twice.
For a large portion of the second half, Oakland had Oregon State in tow. With 16 minutes remaining, Allen Mukeba’s dunk gave the Golden Grizzlies a 45-41 advantage. For a time, the Beavers maintained their pace, closing the gap to 58-55 thanks to a three-pointer by Isaiah Sy.
However, Oakland seized the initiative with a 10-1 run, soaring to its biggest lead at 68-56 with 4:32 left. In response, the desperate Beavers went on a 15-3 run to tie the game at 71 at the end of the second half. After Lelevicius and Sy each made three-pointers to start the game, Lelevicius made a three-pointer with 12.8 seconds remaining to equalize the score.
After Oakland put up the first three points in overtime, the Beavers took control. Lelevicius made two free throws to start it, and Matthew Marsh dunk to put OSU ahead 75-74. Minor and Lake’s free throws in the last 17 seconds seal the victory.
The contact information for Nick Daschel is 360-607-4824, [email protected], or @nickdaschel.
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