Field Level Media
Mar 12, 2021
Ethan Thompson scored 16 points while making a career-high five 3-pointers to lift Oregon State to an upset win over Oregon 75-64 on Friday night in a Pac-12 tournament semifinal game at Las Vegas.
The Beavers (16-12) will play No. 23 Colorado (22-7) in the championship game on Saturday night. The Buffaloes knocked off No. 24 USC in Friday night's other semifinal, 72-70.
Oregon State has advanced to the Pac-12 tournament championship only once before, in the 1987-88 season when the conference was the Pac-10 and Gary Payton was the star guard.
The Beavers had four other players score in double figures: Rodrigue Andela 13 points with nine rebounds, Warith Alatishe with 12 points and 12 rebounds, Zach Reichle with 12 and Jarod Lucas with 11 points.
Oregon had three players finish with 14 points - Chris Duarte, LJ Figueroa and Eugene Omoruyi.
The Ducks (20-6) appeared as if they could overcome Oregon State with a 9-0 run that trimmed Oregon State's lead to 61-56 with 4:34 remaining.
The Beavers responded with an 8-0 spurt to pull away to a 69-56 lead.
Lucas made Oregon State's 10th 3-pointer of the game. The Beavers finished 10 of 19 from beyond the arc.
Oregon State made 50 percent of its shots from the field and dominated Oregon in rebounding 38-24. The defensive rebounds fueled the Beavers' transition game, enabling them to score 15 fast-break points.
Thompson, a 26 percent 3-point shooter this season entering the game, made 5 of 8 from beyond the arc.
He made two 3-pointers early in the second half to increase Oregon State's lead to 49-34 with 16:38 remaining.
Oregon State took an 18-9 lead with 10:20 left before halftime before Oregon rallied for nine straight points, but the Beavers again made a surge that proved to be the difference in the game.
The Beavers went on a 12-3 run capped by a Thompson 3-pointer to take a 38-26 lead with 41 seconds left in the first half.
--Field Level Media