Oregon State Drop Regular Season Finale At Santa Clara 93-72
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In Wayne Tinkle's final road game leading the program and their final game of the 2025-2026 regular season, the Oregon State men's basketball team lost at Santa Clara 93-72 on Saturday.
Johan Munch led the Beavers in scoring with 19 points, a career-high. Meanwhile, Jorge Diaz Graham led the team in rebounds with seven.
Guard Keziah Ekissi also delivered a standout performance off the bench, scoring 12 points with five rebounds and six assists in the absence of Dez White and Matija Samar. Collectively though, the Beavers made just four of their 20 attempts from beyond the three-point line.
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In the first half, Santa Clara's three-point shooting was the difference, sinking seven of their 20 deep shots. Josiah Lake struggled for the Beaver offense, missing all four of his field goal attempts in the first half. The Beavers battled, taking a brief lead at the 11:21 mark. However, Santa Clara seized control of the momentum, at that point with a 9-0 run. The Broncos led 38-33 at the break.
Santa Clara's offense really took off in the second half. Going on a 13-2 run within the first three minutes. The biggest factor in that regard was the Broncos' ability to score second-chance points, picking up 17 in the final 20 minutes. Oregon State did hot have the same fortune in that area, scoring only three second-chance points.
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The loss moves Oregon State to 16-15 overall on the season. The regular season concludes with the Beavers compiling a 9-9 record in conference play. Since Pacific also lost on Saturday evening, the Beavers enter the West Coast Conference Tournament as the No. 4 seed. As a result, they'll get a bye into the quarterfinals of the event and play their first game on Sunday, March 8 in Las Vegas at 5:30 p.m. PT.
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Joe Londergan joined the SI brand in 2023 with G5 Football Daily. With over 15 years of experience in covering and working directly in college and pro sports, Joe's expertise has been featured in Front Office Sports, SB Nation, and XRAY.FM. He is a member of both the Football Writers' Association of America and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association. Joe holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Louisville and a master's degree in sports administration from Seattle University. Outside of his writing career, Joe enjoys golfing, although he admits that while he hits driver decently, his short game is a liability.
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