Offense-challenged Beavers face Pacific-10’s highest scoring bunch

In poker, if you look around the table and don’t see the mark, you are the mark.

In Pacific-10 Conference basketball, if you look around the league and don’t see the doormat, you are the doormat.

That’s been Oregon State’s view, on the outside looking in, during a season in which the conference may be the strongest it’s ever been.

While everyone else is in position to challenge for an NCAA or an NIT berth, the Beavers (6-14, 0-8) are struggling to keep their heads above water. They’ve lost 10 consecutive games, matching an 87-year school record for futility, and are in real danger of being the first team in Pac-10 or Pac-8 history to go winless in conference play.

Their quest for that elusive first league victory begins anew at 3 p.m. today at McArthur Court in Eugene in Civil War 328 against reeling Oregon (12-8, 3-5), which has lost four games in a row after a quick start.

“We go hard every day in practice,” OSU redshirt freshman guard Lathen Wallace said. “We just gotta get a win, that’s what it is. Gotta get a win, a win. Gotta get it.”

OSU played a strong half in each loss to the Los Angeles schools last weekend, and was within two points of USC and four of UCLA at the break. But it collapsed in the second half of each game, prolonging the misery that began with a 67-61 setback at LSU on Dec. 22, 2007.

“It’s hard to lose. No one likes to lose and really at this point it’s just a motivation thing; just work as hard as you can until you get a win,” OSU sophomore Seth Tarver said. “The first win will be the hardest one to get, and once you taste victory, then you’ll get more.

“It’s a weight (on the team’s shoulders) but it’s a motivation-type weight. We keep working hard because we know we’re not that far off. We need to just need to put two good halves together.”

The Beavers have lost 14 consecutive games at Oregon and the free-wheeling Ducks will again pose a substantial challenge. Oregon leads the Pac-10 in scoring (80.4 ppg); Malik Hairston (18.2 ppg), Maarty Leunen (15.8 ppg) and Tajuan Porter (13.2 ppg) rank in the league’s top 20 in scoring, and Oregon has attempted a league-high 440 3-pointers, 85 more than runner-up Arizona State.

“They are talented at every position, they play fast,” Tarver said. “They’ve lost four in a row but we all know what they’re talent is like. They push the ball, definitely.”

The Beavers rank 10th in scoring (60.6 ppg) and are also last in shooting (.382) and 3-point shooting (.285). OSU has passed the 70-point barrier just once in its past 12 games.

“We’d like to get up and down and we have the talent to go up and down with (Oregon), but all season we haven’t been playing as up-and-down as we should,” Tarver said. “Maybe (Oregon) will bring it out of us. UCLA played really fast at times but Oregon is more up-and-down, quick shots, even if they’re bad shots at times.”

Coach Kevin Mouton said the Beavers have to polish their offense, become more efficient, set better screens.

“For us to be successful, we can’t call a set and have a guy miss an assignment, we just can’t do it. (Oregon) is athletic, if you give them runouts they’re going to push it up the floor.”

Oregon has it’s problems too, starting with decision-making from Porter and its defense.

“We definitely have to improve our point guard play, particularly at crunch time, and our defense needs to get better,” Oregon coach Ernie Kent said. “The common denominator in the top four or five teams in the conference is that they all are the top four of five defensive teams too.

“Sometimes it gets a little out of perspective. We’re the best-scoring team in the conference but we’re the worst defensive team in some categories. We need to get better.”

OSU played well enough in the first half against the Los Angeles schools to possibly win today with a repeat effort over the full 40 minutes. But if it duplicates the first five minutes of the second halves against USC and UCLA — when it was outscored 17-2 by the Trojans and 17-1 by the Bruins — the misery will continue.

“If I can figure out a way to come out in the second half and put our guys in positions to be successful or make the right play, it will turn,” Mouton said. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out. If we can get that solved, I think we’ll be in some games.”