CORVALLIS – Oregon State acquired its largest males’s basketball win of the 2024-25 season as Damarco Minor scored 19 factors Saturday to steer the Beavers to a 67-55 win over UC Irvine at Gill Coliseum.
OSU (7-2) by no means trailed in handing the Anteaters (9-1) their first lack of the season. Minor piled up the stats, as he additionally had 9 rebounds and 5 assists to steer the Beavers to their third consecutive win.
UC Irvine is amongst Oregon State’s greatest nonconference opponents this season. The Anteaters, the Massive West preseason favorites, got here into Saturday ranked No. 23 in NCAA NET. Oregon State was No. 51.
Oregon State’s 7-2 begin is its greatest since 2019-20, when the Beavers received 9 of their first 10 video games.
Michael Rataj scored 13 factors and Parsa Fallah 12 for OSU, which overcame 17 turnovers by capturing 46% in opposition to one of many nation’s prime subject aim defensive groups.
Justin Hohn scored 10 factors to prime UC Irvine. Oregon State held the Anteaters main scorer, Bent Leuchten to 6 factors and 4 rebounds.
Oregon State by no means trailed through the first half because it took a 34-30 result in halftime. The distinction got here through the last minute, as Liutauras Lelevicius scored two baskets, together with one on the buzzer, to snap a 30-30 tie.
The Beavers had been on fireplace from the outset, hitting six of their first 9 pictures to take a 14-2 lead. UC Irvine patiently responded, chipping away on the deficit by forcing OSU turnovers and hitting some three-pointers. The Anteaters, trailing 30-24, lastly pulled even when Torian Lee and Myles Che hit back-to-back threes.
The ultimate 4 factors of the primary half was prolonged to a 10-0 run when Rataj hit a pair of free throws to rebuild the result in 40-30. A couple of minutes later, OSU took a 46-34 lead on a 3 by Isaiah Sy.
The Beavers and Anteaters started to commerce baskets, as OSU maintained a large cushion at 58-47 with 7:26 remaining. There was no rally by the Anteaters, because the Beavers protection held UC Irvine to 2 subject aim through the last 7:44.
Oregon State returns to motion Tuesday when the Beavers face Sacramento State at 7 p.m. at Gill Coliseum. After that, the Beavers head to Hawaii to finish nonconference play within the eight-team Diamond Head Traditional December 22-25.
—Nick Daschel may be reached at 360-607-4824, ndaschel@oregonian.com or @nickdaschel.
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