Oregon State number 12 defeated fourth-placed Oklahoma State Cowboys at Hinkle Fieldhouse 80-70 on Sunday night to advance to Sweet 16 in the midwest region of the NCAA tournament.
Point guard Ethan Thompson led the Beavers with 26 points from 5 of 11 shots and seven rebounds. Oregon State also received a strong and unexpected rise from striker Maurice Calloo, who scored 15 points in the first half. Calloo came into play with an average of 5.2 points.
Freshman Cade Cunningham, Oklahoma star, an All-American from the top team and chosen in the NBA lottery, finished with 24 points, four rebounds and three assists, but the Cowboys wasted their possessions by failing to catch the ball for him .
The Beavers scored 44 points in the first half, the maximum allowed by Oklahoma State in the first half of this season. His 44-30 gap advantage was also the biggest Oklahoma State gap deficit of the season. The Cowboys hit 27.7% of the ground for the game, their worst kicking performance since 2014.
After the game, Thompson said, “This team had some big goals at the beginning of the season. One was to win a Pac-12 tournament championship, a Pac-12 regular season championship too, of course, but not to do that. We got the tournament championship. The ultimate goal is to win the NCAA championship. “
Oregon State coach Wayne Tinkle was in control of emotions after the game. His father was a dean of students at Loyola-Chicago, the team the Beavers will face on Sweet 16 on March 27.
“I grew up on their campus,” said Tinkle.
He added: “Coach Moser did a great job. They are a great team. It will really mean something very special to me and my family.”
Tinkle also took the opportunity to talk about Pac-12, now 6-0 in the NCAA tournament.
“We have some talented teams in our league,” he said. “Obviously, we are warning everyone. I am very happy for our program, but extremely happy for the Pac-12 conference.
“Maybe now we can get some damned respect.”
Oregon State has now won five consecutive games in elimination settings – three in the Pac-12 tournament and two in the NCAA tournament. According to the ESPN Stats & Information survey, the chance of winning the Beavers’ BPI was less than 30% in each of these games, and the chance of winning all five was approximately 1 in 2,800.
With Oregon State’s victory, there will be at least four double-digit seeds in Sweet 16 for the third time, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Oral Roberts (15), Oregon State (12) and Syracuse (11) are already in, and (11) UCLA plays against (14) Abilene Christian on Monday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.