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Pac-12 in NCAA Tournament: Oregon State Upsets Tennessee

Pac-12 now 2-0 in NCAA tournament; Oklahoma State next for Beavers, who have won four straight
Jake Curtis|
Pac-12 in NCAA Tournament: Oregon State Upsets Tennessee
Pac-12 in NCAA Tournament: Oregon State Upsets Tennessee

Oregon State kept its surprising late-season run going by pulling off a 70-56 upset of fifth-seeded Tennessee in the first round of the NCAA tournament in Indianapolis.

The convincing win by the 12th-seeded Beavers (18-12) gives the Pac-12 a 2-0 record in the NCAA tournament following UCLA's win over Michigan State on Thursday. It also gave Oregon State its first NCAA tournament win since 1982, when a Beavers team coached by Ralph Miller and led by A.C. Green beat Idaho.

Oregon State was picked to finish last in the Pac-12 and wound up tied for sixth in the Pac-12 before knocking off three teams destined for the NCAA Tournament -- UCLA, Oregon and Colorado -- on consecutive days to win the Pac-12 tournament.

Oregon State made it four upsets in a row on Friday, taking a 19-point lead late in the first half and leading by 20 points with six minutes left in the second half.

Oregon State coach Wayne Tinkle summed up the Beavers' win on Friday: "Pretty dang cool deal."

In Sunday's second-round game, Oregon State will face fourth-seeded Oklahoma State, which held off 13th-seeded Liberty 69-60. Cowboys' star Cade Cunningham had 15 points i that game but was just 3-for-14 from the field.

Center Roman Silva, who was averaging 5.3 points, led Oregon State in scoring with 16 points on 8-for-8 shooting, but the game was won on the defensive end.

Tennessee (18-9) shot just 33.3 percent from the floor and was just 5-for-26 on three-pointers. Oregon State was determined to take away Tennessee's penetration and hope the Vols did not hit enough shots from long range. The strategy worked out perfectly as the Beavers never trailed in the game.

The Beavers have been hot from long range during their four-game winning streak, and they were 10-for-21 on three-pointers on Friday.  Jarod Lucas made four of those three-pointers and scored 14 points.

Tennessee played Friday's game without John Fulkerson, who averages 9.5 points and 5.5 rebounds. He suffered facial fractures when he took an elbow in the SEC tournament and was considered a game-day decision against Oregon State.

Keon Johnson led the Vols with 14 points, and freshman Jaden Spring added 12. But Oregon State had four players in double figures, including Ethan Thompson (13) and Zach Reichle (10).

It was Reichle's 30-foot three-point shot with 16:10 left that gave the Beavers a 19-point lead.

The Beavers are a well connected team at this point, as indicated by the fact that they had 20 assists on 27 made field goals.

Cover photo of Jarod Lucas by Trevor Ruszkowski, USA TODAY Sports

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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