Oregon State
California
Beavers Defeat Golden Bears In Pac-12 Home Opener, 92-85
January 05, 2012 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 6, 2012
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CORVALLIS, Ore. - Ahmad Starks and Jared Cunningham each scored 24 points as Oregon State (11-4, 1-2 Pac-12) opened Pac-12 Conference home action with a 92-85 victory over California Thursday night at Gill Coliseum. The production by the Beavers' guard duo marked the seventh consecutive game that both Starks, who notched his career-high, and Cunningham have scored in double-figures.
The Beavers hit the 90-point plateau for a school-record seventh time this season and scored their most points in a conference game since scoring 99 in an overtime loss to Washington on Jan. 17, 2004.
Angus Brandt scored 14 points, going 3-for-3 from three-point land to tie his career-high with most triples in a game, Joe Burton had 13 points, four rebounds and five assists, and Eric Moreland added seven points, four rebounds and two steals in his first career start.
"I couldn't be more proud of our team and our effort, especially coming off a weekend (losses to UW and WSU) like we had," Oregon State head coach Craig Robinson said. "I knew that if we could take care of the start, and it almost didn't look like we were going to down 5-0, that we would play well and go toe-to-toe with them."
The Beavers entered the contest atop the Pac-12 for field goal percentage at nearly 50 percent and they did nothing but improve that accuracy for the season shooting a blistering 63.3 percent for the game, including making 16-of-21 field goal attempts in the second half. It was that blistering shooting percentage that was the key as California hit 57.4 percent for the game, including making 18-of-29 attempts in the second stanza.
The Golden Bears (12-4, 2-1), who came into the game tied with Stanford and Washington for the early league lead, jumped out to that 5-0 advantage by the time Oregon State center Joe Burton made a layup for the team's first points. Burton's basket sparked a 13-0 Beaver run that energized the 5,162 fans. OSU maintained the lead through most of the half before Cal's Jorge Gutierrez, the game's leading scorer with 26 points, made a jumper at the 6:37 mark to retake the lead at 26-25. Cal pushed the lead back to four before the teams headed to halftime tied at 38-38.
The Beavers scored 10 of the first 13 points of the second half and led 48-41 after a Starks' three-pointer at 16:42 and for most of the final period controlled the game leading by as many as 16 points twice, the final time on another Burton layup at 6:48. But Cal rallied with a 12-0 run over the next 1:40 and trailed just 77-73 and had possession of the ball. OSU forced a turnover and then got its offensive rhythm back thanks to a timely Devon Collier dunk on an assist from Roberto Nelson and another triple by Starks that gave the Beavers an 86-76 lead with 1:54 to play.
"What we were doing was that we were making winning plays," Robinson said of his team holding off the Cal rally. "A team that is picked to win the league like they are, are going to be tough and they have some veterans that have been through the wars, so they know how to come from behind. It was nice to see them really take a run at us, and for us to hold on to our guts and run right back and widen the lead back out. I don't want to say it is a watershed moment, but it is a great learning experience and great accomplishment for these guys because they are young and they haven't been in that position before."
Oregon State looks to make it a weekend sweep of the Bay Area schools when its hosts Stanford this Saturday at 7 p.m. Tickets are available by calling 1-800-GO-BEAVS or at osubeavers.com. The game will also be televised on ROOT Sports.
"And finally, I would be remised in not pointing out that our crowd was just terrific tonight," Robinson added. "To still have kids out of school and to have as many of the Beaver Nation followers there, it was just terrific to see."
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