Jeffers detained briefly by police after incident

By Cliff Kirkpatrick
Corvallis Gazette-Times

TUCSON, Ariz. — A high in frustration was reached by the Oregon State men’s basketball team Thursday night in the McKale Center.

After losing a Pacific-10 Conference game to No. 10 Arizona 83-72 before a crowd of 14,428, starting center Kyle Jeffers was in an altercation with fans.

When the Beavers were walking off the court, Jeffers allegedly spit on two fans in retaliation for allegedly spitting on him. Police handcuffed Jeffers and took him into a room to calm down and talk.

Coach Jay John followed through the halls of the arena and was told by the police officer what happened. The officer said what Jeffers did was considered an assault. According to witnesses, the fans wanted to prosecute.

Once all parties cooled off, Jeffers was released to the team with no charges filed, John said. The police officer wouldn’t elaborate on anything afterward.

“It’s not a big deal,” John said. “I don’t know what happened. ... I saw my player was taken away. He’s fine. It was a (warning).”

The Beavers have been hassled the last two seasons by the fans here. Jeffers was targeted because he only played four minutes in the second half because of four fouls.

Frustration continues to build after a fourth straight loss. The Beavers (8-9, 0-4) fell below .500 for the first time since Nov. 24.

“No one is smiling in that locker room,” junior forward Sasa Cuic said. “We are looking forward to the next game. That’s all we can do.”

Arizona returned to its winning ways after a loss to Washington State last week. The Beavers were the perfect opponent as they haven’t won in Tucson in 25 games.

The Wildcats (13-2, 4-1) started with a 10-0 run and never looked back. They forced OSU into tough shots and turnovers, which led to them running the floor.

“We tried to jump on them and make sure they didn’t get much confidence coming into the building,” Arizona forward Marcus Williams said.

The Wildcats ran a crisp offense that spread the court. They led by 22 early in the second half. Williams scored a season-high 27 points, while Chase Budinger added 16 and Ivan Radenovic had 13.

OSU cut the deficit to nine points with 2:29 and 1:32 left in the game. It was a scrappy effort that brought them back.

“There were stretches we had control of the game,” Cuic said. “There were stretches where we felt if we pushed a little harder or had one less turnover, we had it. We had them on their heels in their own house. I don’t know about a silver lining, but there were some good things to come out of this.”

Junior forward Marcel Jones led the surge back. He scored 26 points and grabbed eight rebounds, both team highs. Cuic scored 16 points.

Game stats show a relatively close game with similar shooting percentages and rebounds because of that late run. Arizona’s advantage came from OSU’s 20 turnovers and 20 fouls.

The Wildcats were 24-for-32 from the free-throw line. They made 18 more than the Beavers, more than accounting for the margin of victory.

“I felt we came down here over the years and we fed right into the frenzy,” John said. “I thought we did a good job. We turned it over, they got layups. We missed some easy shots. For a first Pac-10 game on the road, we had good energy and we grew up in some areas. What I’m pleased with today’s game, we were able to take some blows and deliver some of our own.”

An attempt to keep people fresh and develop the younger players was made and it helped. An expanded rotation of 10 helped make up for Jeffers missing most of the second half.

Freshman guard Seth Tarver played 17 minutes and scored seven points. Freshman forward Roeland Schaftenaar was in 13 minutes and scored six points.

“We fought back and we didn’t fold,” Jones said. “A couple of key plays turned the tide. We are making strides. We just can’t get down by a lot and expect to come back. It takes a lot of energy to come back.”