Big Second Half Pushes Oregon State to 83-69 Home Win Over Santa Clara

On the night before head coach Wayne Tinkle's birthday, the Oregon State Beavers secured an 83-69 home win over the Santa Clara Broncos. The victory improves OSU's record to 16-6 with a 6-3 record in West Coast Conference play. Tinkle's team now have their most conference wins in a season since the 2020-2021 campaign where the Beavs reached the Elite Eight.

Oregon State jumped out to a quick lead in the early minutes of the game, but had allowed Santa Clara to tie the game up at 15-15 before the first ten minutes had passed. The Beavs then built back up a nine-point lead, but quickly saw it evaporate into a two-point lead (32-30) before the halftime whistle.

The Beavs did not make a field goal in the final four minutes of the first half. However, they were a perfect nine-for-nine from the the free-throw line in the first half. Both teams struggled to hit from beyond the three-point line in the first half. The Beavers made just one-of-ten three-point shots, while Santa Clara connected on three-of-12.

In the second half, the Beavers were streaky once again. At first, they were stout defensively and extended their lead to 13 points in the first six minutes. Santa Clara continued to hang around, making it a one-possession game at several points, but ultimately never regained the lead. Oregon State outscored their opponents 51-39 in the final frame.

Junior forward Michael Rataj scored a career-high 30 points, leading all scorers in the game and going a perfect ten-for-ten on free throws. 22 of his points came in the second half of action.

Point guard Damarco Minor turned in an impressive all-around performance, scoring ten points with eight rebounds, six assists, and three steals. Parsa Fallah also returned from injury, scoring nine points off of the bench.

The Beavers next take the court on Tuesday, January 28 against the Gonzaga Bulldogs. OSU won their previous meeting with Gonzaga this season, a 97-89 overtime win back on January 16.

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