Field Level Media
Feb 20, 2021
McKinley Wright scored 21 points, Evan Battey and Jeriah Horne had 10 points each, and the visiting Colorado Buffaloes beat the Oregon State Beavers 61-57 in Corvallis, Ore., on Saturday night.
Ethan Thompson had 18 points with seven assists and Warith Alatishe scored 12 while adding 10 rebounds for the Beavers.
Oregon State (11-11, 7-9 Pac-12) scored the first six points of the second half to tie the game at 35 but Wright scored the next 11 points for the Buffaloes to help them build the lead back up to 48-43.
The Beavers failed to cut into the lead despite grabbing three offensive rebounds on one possession and Tristan da Silva hit an off-balanced shot as he was being grabbed, also hitting the free throw to put Colorado (17-7, 11-6) up by eight with 7:36 left.
Thompson answered with a short jumper but Wright hit a foul-line jumper to make it 53-45 with 6:49 remaining. Oregon State couldn't cut the deficit with its next three possessions and D'Shawn Schwartz made a layup with 4:19 remaining to put the Buffaloes up by 10 and force a timeout by the Beavers.
Alatishe scored off of an offensive rebound with 3:10 left, ending a drought that lasted more than four minutes, and Oregon State had two more chances to get closer but couldn't cash in. Wright then hit two free throws with 1:48 to make it 57-47.
Jarod Lucas made two foul shots, Colorado turned it over on a backcourt violation and Alatishe hit two free throws to get Oregon State within 57-51 with 1:19 left.
The teams traded a pair of made free throws, Battey was called for an offensive foul and Thompson's layup made it 59-55 with 30 seconds left but Colorado was able to close it out at the line.
The game was tied midway through the first half before Colorado slowly built an eight-point lead. Zach Reichle hit a layup and Thompson a 3-pointer to get the Beavers within three, but Horne's field goal from behind the arc just before the horn gave the Buffaloes a 35-29 halftime lead.
--Field Level Media