Beavers Battle Golden Bears To The Wire

Wednesday, March 8

Las Vegas, NV

2:30 PM

Oregon State

5-27

California

20-11

Oregon State

California

Stephen Thompson Jr. scored 25 points on Wednesday in OSU's final game of the season.

Photo by: Oregon State Athletics

March 08, 2017 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score

By: Oregon State Communications

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Oregon State battled California to the buzzer in the opening round of the Pacific-12 Conference tournament on Wednesday before falling 67-62 in its final game of the season.

The Beavers (5-27) got 25 points from sophomore guard Stephen Thompson Jr., 11 from redshirt freshman guard Kendal Manuel and 10 from sophomore center Gligorije Rakocevic in an inspired effort at the at T-Mobile Arena.

OSU had a chance to take the lead inside the final minute but Manuel missed a 3-pointer from the left corner with 58 seconds to play with OSU trailing 59-57. Cal answered with a 3-point play for a 62-57 advantage with 54 seconds remaining and the Bears closed it out at the free-throw line.

The Beavers played almost the entire second half without sophomore forward Drew Eubanks, who left the game with a leg injury. He had six points, four rebounds and two assists in a season-low 22 minutes.

Thompson Jr. had 18 second-half points. He was 7-of-12 from the field, 5-for-6 from beyond the arc and 6-for-8 from the line in his seventh 20-point game of the season. He scored in double figures in 23 of his final 25 starts and has 43 double-figure performances in 58 career games.

Manuel reached double figures for the 10^th time in his career and also had three assists and two steals.

Rakocevic hit a career-high three 3-point shots in three attempts after making just five in the regular season. He also had nine rebounds and two steals while reaching double figures in scoring for the fifth time in his career.

Freshman guard JaQuori McLaughlin had six assists and junior forward Matt Dahlen scored five points in the final six minutes to help keep OSU in the game.

OSU was 10 of 17 on 3-pointers overall and 5 of 7 in the second half. However, it was 10-for-18 from the line in the second half and twice missed both ends of a two-shot foul.

The Beavers started quickly, hit four of their first five shots and jumped to a 10-2 lead in the opening 2:39. Cal answered with a 9-0 run to take an 11-10 lead and the remainder of the half was back-and-forth.

The Bears led 32-29 at halftime. Thompson Jr. had eight points, Rakocevic seven and Manuel and Eubanks six apiece at the break.

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