Oregon State Men Drop Conference Opener Versus Santa Clara 102-64

In a game many fans will likely wish to forget, Santa Clara bullied Oregon State into a flurry of first-half turnovers, and ran away with a thunderous rout at Gill Coliseum, 102-64.

Both Oregon State and Santa Clara entered today with impressive three-point shooting this season. In the opening minutes, the Broncos' bombers delivered the game's first strikes: half of their four three-pointers in the first four minutes found the net, and Santa Clara led 8-4 with sixteen minutes remaining in the opening half. Out of the game's first timeout, three consecutive turnovers doomed Oregon State's offense, and Santa Clara's lead ballooned to ten with slightly under fifteen minutes left.

After the offense stalled out for over three minutes of game time, Josiah Lake II resuscitated the Beavers attack with a step-back trey from the left wing, 14-7 Santa Clara. Following a Santa Clara triple which restored the deficit to double digits, Lake II drove inside the paint, and kicked to an open Dez White, who buried a three-pointer of his own, 17-10 Santa Clara.

In the first half, Santa Clara's top priority was containing Lake II: every time the Oregon State point guard touched the basketball, defenders delivered suffocating pressure. Their efforts paid off: halfway through the opening period, Santa Clara forced six turnovers, held Oregon State's shooters to a mere 5-of-13 from the field, and extended their lead to thirteen.

Unfortunately, the Beavers' offense continued to make turnover-inducing mistakes, and the Beavers' defense watched helplessly as threes rained down from the skies. At halftime, Santa Clara led by an absurd 53-20.

Lake II led Oregon State's first half effort with 9 points on 3-of-7 shooting in 16 minutes. Santa Clara's domination was a total team effort: sophomore guard Christian Hammond & junior guard Thierry Darlan each scored 9 points, while senior forward Elijah Mahi and 6'9" redshirt junior guard Jake Ensminger notched 8 points. As a team, the Broncos shot 60% from the field (18-of-30) and a white hot 47.1% from distance (8-of-17), with flawless free throw shooting (9-of-9) and only 3 turnovers, while forcing 9 Beavers' turnovers defensively.

While Santa Clara continued to lead by a wide margin, the opening minutes of the second half managed to offer a sliver of orange & black optimism: starting shooting guard Dez White knocked down three three-pointers in five minutes. At the first media timeout, Santa Clara led 64-37 with 15:38 remaining.

Back-to-back bombs by Lake II and French sophomore guard Keziah Ekissi forced Santa Clara coach Herb Sendek to call timeout; with 12:35 left, the deficit was cut to 67-45. Coming out of the break, Santa Clara guard Brenton Knapper stole an errant pass by Oregon State big man Jorge Diaz-Graham, and the frenchman Ekissi committed a blocking foul which sent Santa Clara freshman guard KJ Cochran to the charity stripe. Cochran missed both shots, and the Beavs' comeback effort endured.

Minutes later, the Broncos turned the tide with a Mahi jumper from downtown, 74-47 Santa Clara halfway through the second period. From there, the game felt like a car in cruise control: with five minutes remaining, six different Santa Clara scorers reached double figures. When the final buzzer mercifully reverberated across Ralph Miller Court, the Broncos gifted the Beavers a 102-64 blowout.

Santa Clara guard Elijah Mahi led all scorers overall with 23 points, while Oregon State guard Josiah Lake II led all Beavers scorers with 19 points. The loss drops Oregon State to 7-7 overall, 0-1 in West Coast Conference play. The Beavers play again Tuesday December 30th versus San Francisco, and tip-off is slated for 7 PM (PST) from Gill Coliseum, with the game streaming online on ESPN+.

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