Document text
Beavers hope to flip script verus Ducks Oregon State's Drew Eubanks (12) remembers his first Civil War, but he prefers to forget the most recent one. [THE ASSOCIATED PRESS] Friday Mar 3, 2017 at 7:58 PM Mar 3, 2017 at 7:58 PM By Steve MimsEugene Register-Guard CORVALLIS — Drew Eubanks keeps a clear memory of his first Civil War. “We flew around, played really hard and Gill Coliseum was packed,” the Oregon State sophomore recalled of the Beavers’ 70-57 win over Oregon just about 14 months ago. “We took away their strengths.” The most recent rivalry game nearly seven weeks ago didn’t leave such a lasting impression. “I really don’t remember that much about it,” Eubanks said. Oregon scored the first 21 points in an 85-43 win at Matthew Knight Arena on Jan. 14 as OSU went more than nine minutes without scoring to open the game. “I don’t even know what you are talking about,” OSU coach Wayne Tinkle joked as the Beavers (5-25, 1-16) prepared to host sixth-ranked Oregon (26-4, 15-2) at 3 p.m. Saturday. “That was a long time ago.” The Beavers have not spent much time this week looking back on their most lopsided loss of the season. “I watched it a little, some bits and pieces, but I have not watched the whole first half from start to finish,” sophomore guard Stephen Thompson Jr. said. “That would be tough to watch. They came out and attacked us, and we did not respond.” Dylan Ennis hit two 3-pointers while scoring eight of Oregon’s 10 points in the first five minutes during the first meeting with the Beavers. “At the beginning of the game, we didn’t have any energy,” OSU guard JaQuori McLaughlin said. “We didn’t stay together as a team. When they went on that 10-0 run we should have pulled together and gone down low to Drew for a bucket. We didn’t stay together and did our own thing and that didn’t work.” Dillon Brooks added a basket and a free throw before Casey Benson and Ennis each made a 3-pointer to put Oregon ahead 19-0. Chris Boucher capped the start with a dunk before Eubanks scored on OSU’s 10th shot with 10:44 left in the first half. “We played catch-up the whole time so hopefully we don’t fall into a hole like that again,” sophomore guard Tanner Sanders said. “We have to come out with more aggression instead of being passive and waiting for them to throw the first punch. They came out with more of a want-to attitude than we did. They acted and we reacted and we were down 21-0. That can’t ever happen in a basketball game.” The Ducks kept the lead above 20 for the final 30 minutes as they led 41-13 at the half and built the margin to as high as 43 points. “We need to slow them down a bit,” Sanders said. “They get up and down and make things happen so we don’t want to play at their pace. We fell into that trap in Eugene and let them control the tempo. We need to control pace because when we do that, we are in some games especially at Gill.” OSU shot a season-worst 31.4 percent from the field against the Ducks, including 3 for 18 on 3-pointers. “That was the first Civil War for some our guys and it was a great environment,” Tinkle said. “The difference is we are at home this time and hopefully that helps squash a lot of those nerves.” Oregon State took a halftime lead at home against Arizona and Colorado earlier this month before losing those games. The Beavers rallied from a four-point halftime deficit at Gill for its lone conference win, 68-67 over Utah on Feb. 19. “We have been getting off to good starts, but we have to capitalize on that,” Thompson said. “Don’t let up and keep attacking.”