The Oregon State Beavers pulled off a 69-66 OT win over the Washington Huskies Wednesday night in the opening round of the Pac-12 tournament. It was the third time the two teams had faced off against each other with each team having a victory before Wednesday nights rubber match
Drew Eubanks scored 19 points, and Stephen Thompson Jr. added 14 to lead the Beavers past the Huskies who were led by Matisse Thybulle’s 19 points. The was a damaging blow to the Huskies NCAA Tournament hopes.
Oregon State went up 66-64 in overtime on Tres Tinkle’s two free throws and Washington tried to set up a shot to tie, but David Crisp threw the ball out of bounds. Eubanks hit 1 of 2 free throws and Crisp scored on a layup with 3.1 seconds left to pull the Huskies within two.
Tinkle hit two more free throws with 2.5 seconds left and Crisp got a good look at a tying 3-pointer, but it caromed off the back of the rim.
Oregon State (16-15) moves on to face No. 2 seed Southern California in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Washington made a strong NCAA Tournament push with consecutive wins over Arizona and Arizona State in early February. But the Huskies fell away from the NCAA bubble with a stretch of four losses in five games, including a double-overtime setback at Oregon State.
Washington won two of its final three games, but needed a strong run in the Pac-12 tournament to have any NCAA shot.
The third meeting of the season became a defensive battle, neither team able to find much operating room.
Oregon State made 8 of 23 shots in the first half, including 1 for 7 from the 3-point arc. Washington was slightly better, going 11 for 29 and 2 for 9 from 3 to lead 29-25.
Halftime adjustments freed up both offenses early before the defenses controlled the game again. Oregon State went nearly 6 minutes without scoring, but Washington couldn’t stretch its lead. Then the Huskies had a stretch when it went 1 for 9 and the Beavers capitalized, going on a 10-2 run to go up 55-51.
