Beavers Go Cold Down the Stretch in Loss to Portland
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The Oregon State men's basketball team suffered its third consecutive road defeat when the Pilots beat them 82-76 on Saturday night at the Chiles Center.
The Beavers jumped out to a great start Saturday night, with 6'10" freshman Olavi Suutela putting up 10 points over the course of the first five minutes, including three-pointers on back-to-back possessions. A Josiah Lake steal and subsequent dunk led to an early UP timeout, with Tinkle's side leading it 16-6.
With ten minutes remaining in the first half, Portland's offense finally came to life. Freshman guard Mikah Ballew got it going from deep, hitting two from beyond the arc in the span of a minute and a half. The Beavers also struggled to contain 7'1" center Jermaine Ballisager Webb, who established himself as a force down low.
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Overall, UP went on a 19-8 run over a seven-minute stretch to give the Pilots a lead. After a couple stops from both teams, it went into halftime with Portland leading 39-38.
Oregon State got off to a decent start in the second half, with Yaak Yaak and Suutela combining for nine points over the first five minutes. The Beavers continued to find success by going to Noah Amenhauser down low, and OSU jumped out to a 56-48.
But just like in the first half, Portland was able to come storming back, and they were able to do this very quickly. The Pilots went on a 7-0 run over the course of less than a minute, and two free throws at the 10:17 mark gave the home team a lead.
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From here on, the score bounced around, with quite a few lead changes in the second half. But with five minutes left and the Pilots up by two, Oregon State went cold at an unfotunate time. They missed four of their final five three-point attempts, and Portland pulled away in the final minute.
The biggest bright spot for the Beavers on the night was the performance from freshman Olavi Suutela, who scorerd a career-high 19 points and shot 8-9 from the field. Johan Munch scored 14 off the bench, in what was a strong showing from the sophomore. Dez White, Yaak Yaak and Josiah Lake all finished with exactly 10 on the evening.
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Ben Pahl is a sportswriter and broadcaster based in Portland, Oregon. His work covering college and professional sports has been featured by the Orange Media Network at Oregon State University as well as KBVR.fm. His other career stops in sports include the Portland Pickles baseball club and the NBA G-League's Rip City Remix.