Sasa Cuic delivers all-around performance

By Cliff Kirkpatrick
Corvallis Gazette-Times

CORVALLIS — It was a feeling they had almost forgotten.

The Beavers found the joy of victory for the first time in four weeks on Saturday as the Oregon State men’s basketball team overcame a pesky Arizona State squad in a 59-55 Pacific-10 Conference contest before a crowd of 5,883 in Gill Coliseum.

“We’ve been due,” guard Wesley Washington said. “A win is great for us right now. But this was one of those games we got to the loose balls, we got to the loose rebounds, we got steals and we got charges. We did a good job of pulling this one off.”

The Beavers (10-16, 2-11) snapped a seven-game losing streak. Their last win was Jan. 13 at Arizona State.

The win pushes the Beavers two games ahead of the Sun Devils (6-18, 0-13) in the conference. With five regular season games left, staying out of last place in the Pac-10 helps with seeding going into the conference tournament.

“You never take wins for granted, no matter what your record is,” John said. “They are always wonderful. … For these guys, this was of great importance. Kids are going to feel better with it, no question.”

Arizona State has been struggling the way OSU has this season, particularly on offense. The Sun Devils start three freshmen, and that has led to a 14-game losing streak.

OSU forward Sasa Cuic showed the return to his high-scoring ways wasn’t a one-game thing. He led the Beavers on offense for the second straight game, sinking 22 points.

Cuic rounded out his game this time. He grabbed five rebounds, stole the ball twice and blocked a shot.

“It feels good,” Cuic said. “This is something that I’m happy with right now. We’ve all been working extra hard. It feels very good, especially when you get a win.”

Washington’s role continues to expand now that his lingering wrist sprain feels better. He scored 13 points, led the team in rebounds with seven, helped run the offense and played tough defense.

“Having Wesley back is a big deal for us,” John said. “We played better this week because he was around.”

The Beavers were able to accomplish all the little things they haven’t been able to do in their losing streak.

They shot well at 42 percent from the field and were 16-for-22 from the free-throw line for 73 percent. And the perimeter shooting came on line.

“I think without any question, the ability to hit free throws is a vital component of our offense,” John said. “We got our chance and we hit them. And that was the difference in the game.”

Once they were executing — and finishing — the offense, the defense came together. The Beavers held Arizona State’s go-to inside player Jeff Pendergraph to eight points, and no field goals.

Kyle Jeffers, Roeland Schaftenaar, Calvin Hampton and Cuic combined to neutralize someone who scored 19 points on them in their last meeting.

This was a game were everything came together for the Beavers. They started fast, withstood Arizona State’s mid-game run and closed it out in the end.

Now it’s a matter of repeating it to end the season on a high.

“We came out of that last (TV) timeout and said that this game was not going to get away from us,” Cuic said. “We played a great game off the bat, and things didn’t go well for us. So we said we are stopping this right now. This was our win. Now we have to move on.

“This feels so good for us not to try and get more. The feeling in the locker room now is incomparable. We are tired of (just) being competitive; it’s time to win some games.”