Beavers Conclude European Tour Undefeated After Another Win
Aug. 27, 2012
Game 1: Oregon State 76, St. Charles 59 MADRID, Spain - The Oregon State men's basketball team wrapped up its European tour with an 89-73 win over Real Canoe in Madrid, Spain, on Monday night behind another big game by Angus Brandt to finish their trip overseas with a 4-0 record. The senior from Sydney, Australia scored 18 points, going 8-for-10 from the field, as the Beavers shot a blistering 61.6 percent against a scrappy Real Canoe team that got feisty but played hard until the final buzzer. Freshman Langston Morris-Walker had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds and Roberto Nelson finished with 12 points. "I didn't think it was chippy in the respect that it got out of hand," Oregon State head coach Craig Robinson said. "This is a storied program historically that has been a very good program so they have a lot of pride. When you come in with some young college kids playing against grown men, they want to beat us and they want to be respected. So they were just playing hard for their own self respect. "I couldn't be happier with the way we handled it. We didn't get into anything with those guys. I thought there was a point there in the fourth quarter where they didn't score. We just decided to start playing D and just shut them down." Real Canoe cut the lead to seven points to start the second half but Brandt and Nelson combined for 13 points during a 15-3 run to give the Beavers a 58-39 lead. Nelson fouled out with 59.8 seconds to play in the third quarter when the scorer's table mistakenly had him down for five fouls. The Beavers led 68-57 through three quarters and went on a 12-2 run to start the final frame to build its biggest lead of the game at 80-59 and then coasted the rest of the way for their fourth double-figure victory in as many games in Europe. Eric Moreland had another solid game with six points, a game-high 11 rebounds, five assists and five blocked shots, while Devon Collier, Joe Burton and Victor Robbins each had nine points. Despite playing for the second straight night, the Beavers came out on fire and took a 21-8 lead with Brandt scoring seven of the points and Starks adding six before Real Canoe closed the gap to 23-14 at the end of the first quarter. The home team warmed up in the second quarter and took advantage of Brandt being in foul trouble to cut the lead to 35-31, but the Beavers closed the frame on an 8-3 run to lead 43-34 at the break. Morris-Walker had eight points and eight rebounds with six of them coming on the offensive glass. After leading the Pac-12 in scoring for the first time in school history with a program record 78.9 points per game last season, the Oregon State offense looks like it won't miss a beat despite losing leading scorer Jared Cunningham. The Beavers averaged 82.8 points in the four games in Europe and allowed an average of just 66.0. "I think everyone, as I have said all summer, understands that we all have to pick it up because we don't have Jared," Robinson said. "We have to be much better on defense than what we were on this trip. I think we are getting there. I think we are conscientious and this team likes each other and want to work for each other. "It looks like we don't have as much to worry about with our offense as we thought we'd have. We had some guys step it up. Angus is scoring points, Ahmad is scoring more, Roberto is scoring more and Devon is scoring more. So all we need is four more points apiece from those guys and that's 16 points right there." Brandt led the team in scoring (15.8) and rebounding (8.8) and had two double-doubles, while Nelson averaged 15 points and Collier, who led the Pac-12 in field goal percentage last season at 61.5 percent, averaged 12.5 points and made 23 of his 32 field goal attempts (71.8 percent). Moreland had eight points and four rebounds in the first game then showcased his potential by averaging 9.3 points and 9.0 boards in the final three with 13 blocked shots in the four games, a year after leading the Pac-12 in blocks with 1.9 per game as a redshirt freshman. The three freshmen -- Jarmal Reid, Morris-Walker and Robbins -- played as advertised by showing a great deal of athleticism and tenacity on the defensive end. "We got some really good minutes out of our freshmen tonight because of foul trouble," Robinson said. "It was good to let them get out there and mess around against some pros. They showed me a lot on this trip and I expect them to help us this season. "All in all, I'm very happy with the trip. I'm happy with the games. I'm completely ecstatic that nobody is injured and these guys will get a well deserved break and then we'll be back at it in the fall." Oregon State Scoring: Brandt 18, Nelson 12, Morris-Walker 10, Collier 9, Burton 9, Robbins 9, Starks 8, Moreland 6, Barton 4, Reid 4, Moyer 0, Powers 0, Jones 0. Oregon State Rebounding: Moreland 11, Morris-Walker 10, Collier 5, Brandt 4, Nelson 4, Burton 3, Starks 2, Robbins 2, Reid 2, Barton 1, Jones 1, Moyer 0, Powers 0. Oregon State Assists: Moreland 5, Starks 3, Burton 3, Robbins 3, Nelson 2, Brandt 1, Barton 1, Morris-Walker 1, Reid 1, Collier 0, Moyer 0, Powers 0, Jones 0. Basketball Season Tickets Click on the following links to purchase men's basketball season tickets and women's basketball season tickets. Support Oregon State University Athletics by making your tax deductible donation to the Beaver Athletic Student Fund. For more information follow this link or call 541-737-2370. Former Student-Athletes are invited to join the Varsity O Facebook Page for upcoming Alumni events. Follow Oregon State Athletics On YouTube. Follow this link to find out more about the Pac-12 Networks.
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