Oregon State hangs tough for 32 minutes

EUGENE — For 32 minutes, it appeared possible that Oregon State’s 10-game losing streak could end in most improbable of locations, McArthur Court, where the Beavers were winless since 1993.

They trailed 57-56 with 8:16 to play and had the reliable Roeland Schaftenaar at the line, poised to tie the game by making the second half of a two-shot foul.

However, his attempt was long, and clanged off the rim. And quicker than you can say Tajuan Porter, Oregon exploded for a 19-4 run over the next five minutes that clinched a 79-63 victory before a sellout crowd of 9,087.

“We did some good things offensively. We shot well in the first half and we played good defense on a great-shooting team for 30-odd minutes,” OSU coach Kevin Mouton said.

“Then we mentally missed some assignments. You can’t (do that) with a team that shoots that well, and we all saw what happened when we started missing assignments and running into screens on plays designed to give their shooters shots.”

The breakaway came with frightening quickness.

Oregon’s Maarty Leunen scored an old-fashioned three-point play on a stickback and Porter swished a lengthy 3-pointer after an OSU turnover and the Ducks suddenly had some breathing room at 63-56 with 7:15 remaining.

“That was the backbreaker right there,” Mouton said, alluding to Leunen’s second-chance points. “Little things like that win you games, and lose you games.”

Oregon’s Churchill Odia and Bryce Taylor answered baskets by Calvin Haynes with 3-pointers to send Oregon up 69-60 with 5:33 to play. Porter then closed it out with six unanswered points over the next three minutes to send OSU to its school-record 11th consecutive defeat.

The Ducks scored 19 points on their first seven possessions after Schaftenaar’s missed free throw. The Pac-10’s leading offense finally roared to life after moving in fits and starts for much of the day and finished making 29 of 55 shots, and half its 20 3-pointers.

“The big difference was Porter,” who scored 11 of his game-high 23 points in the final seven minutes, Oregon coach Ernie Kent said.

“He hit the big shots,” most notably two NBA-range 3-pointers, a high-arching, floating layup on a drive from the right wing and another driving layup just as the shot clock expired, the dagger in the heart with 2:27 to play.

“I’ve been in the gym taking extra shots, and they went in for me,” said Porter, who emerged from a recent shooting funk by hitting 8 of 13 overall and 5 of 8 from deep. “It was a rivalry game. We just had to get our rhythm back.”

Haynes had his best game at OSU with 17 points. A 27.5 percent shooter before Saturday, he was 6 of 11 and surpassed his old PR by seven points.

“The coaches told me to be aggressive, take good shots, and I was feeling it, so I just kept playing,” Haynes said. “We came (here) knowing we could win, there was no doubt.

“Just mistakes we have to solve. The main (Ducks) who score all the time made plays down the stretch, you have to give them credit.

“(Porter) does that. You can’t help but just be like, ‘Dang.’ ”

The Beavers’ last win was 65-56 over Northern Colorado back on Dec. 19, when the now-deposed Jay John was still their coach and since-dismissed center C.J. Giles was the hope of the future.

“We need a break, I think everybody is pulling for us now to get a win,” said center Calvin Hampton, who had 10 points and five rebounds in 17 productive minutes before fouling out. “I thought Calvin (Haynes) had a great game, coming out of his slump, he produced, going up against Bryce Taylor, a great guard.

“I never feel like it was an opportunity wasted. Toward the end we just hit that wall, we couldn’t get up off of it, and they came out and hit great shots.

“We kept fighting. It was a great game for 35 minutes. We’re better than what our record says and I just hope we go down to the Bay Area and pull something off.”

The Beavers have been far more competitive in their three last games, although they’ve faltered in the second half and been outscored by a combined 51 points.

The meltdown came much later against the Ducks, though, and they now hope to parlay that improvement into tangible success — victory — either at California on Thursday or at Stanford on Feb. 9.

“Our team got better. Our team grew up today,” Mouton said. “We’ll build off that.”