Beavers can’t shoot straight, but play defense for 35 minutes

By Cliff Kirkpatrick
Gazette-Times Reporter

STANFORD, Calif. — After a one-game reprieve, the frustration returned.

The Oregon State men’s basketball team showed it can handle the last-place team in the Pacific-10 Conference last Saturday, but moving up to the middle of the pack remains a challenge.

Stanford was too much for the Beavers in the second half Thursday night before a crowd of 7,005 in Maples Pavilion. The Cardinal won 70-55 after a competitive three-quarters of a game.

“It’s very frustrating,” center Kyle Jeffers said. “It’s the theme of the season. We can’t finish out games. We have more work to do.”

The Beavers (10-17, 2-12) faced the usual height problems against Stanford (16-8, 8-5), which features two 7-footers. Big interior players meant the easier shots for the Beavers to get off came beyond the 3-point line.

However, hitting from the outside has been a problem all season. The Beavers entered the game last in the Pac-10 in 3-point shooting with a 28-percent success rate.

And it’s not coming around now, as the Beavers went 3-for-20 in the game and 2-for-11 in the first half.

General shooting was off again as OSU went 20-for-62, and 9-for-34 in the first half.

“The bottom line is we need to learn how to score in man-to-man,” forward Marcel Jones said. “That’s what it comes down to. We are competing defensively. We just have to keep going — keep attempting. I don’t know what to say. We just have to execute.”

The Beavers played a strong first half thanks to their hustle on defense when they forced 16 of their 22 turnovers. That kept Stanford from scoring easy buckets and they only trailed by four points going into intermission.

It turned out to be a familiar scenario. If the shots fell, the Beavers would have dominated the first half and maybe the end of the game would have been different.

“No one likes to lose,” Jones said. “It’s just the way we lose. We are in games the first 35 minutes and then we don’t know how to score. I don’t know what’s going on. Guys are playing hard. I’m not down on my guys or my coaches, but we have to learn how to put the ball in the basket.”

By the middle of the second half Stanford began to make its shots from all areas of the court. OSU’s defense couldn’t hold up anymore.

Lawrence Hill scored 23 points, while Brook Lopez had 20 and Fred Washington added 12.

“We gave up layups and, and-ones,” Jeffers said. “It wasn’t like we gave it up in transition. We gave it up in halfcourt defense. They didn’t make an adjustment. Somewhere along the line people lost focus.”

Add Stanford’s 42-29 rebounding advantage, and the tide turned.

The Beavers weren’t allowed many second-chance opportunities with the Cardinal’s 29 defensive rebounds to OSU’s 14 on the offensive end.

“They beat us on the boards,” Jeffers said. “We missed a lot of shots, and that helped them on their defensive rebounds. They have big people down there. They got most of them.”

Jones played a scrappy game with a team-leading 13 points and four steals. Jeffers added 11 points and Wesley Washington had 10 with four assists and two steals.

Jeffers continues to fight for points inside. He led the team in rebounds with nine.

Washington has been more aggressive lately with a nothing-to-lose attitude because of his lingering wrist injury from last month.

Sasa Cuic’s resurgence from last weekend was put on hold. After two games of more than 20 points each, he was shut out, going 0-for-10 from the field.