Beavers Unleashed: The Thrilling World of Oregon State University Athletics

CORVALLIS – The Oregon State men’s basketball squad commenced conference play with an 89-79 victory against Portland on Monday night at Gill Coliseum.

With this triumph, the Beavers improved to 11-3 for the season and 1-0 in WCC competition.

Michael Rataj achieved a career-best 28 points on 12-for-15 shooting and made his first nine attempts of the match. The forward contributed five rebounds, five assists, and two steals. Liutauras Lelevicius added 15 points on 5-for-8 shooting, while Nate Kingz posted 15 points, four rebounds, and two steals.

Parsa Fallah finished his night with 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting. Isaiah Sy scored 14 points off the bench, hitting five of eight attempts.

As a collective, the Beavers shot 61.4 percent from the field. Oregon State boasted a 29-19 edge on the boards.

Portland began the game strongly, establishing a 9-2 lead at the outset. Rataj netted 13 of Oregon State’s initial 17 points to even the score at 17. The Pilots pushed their advantage to 10 at 36-26. Oregon State responded with a 10-point run to seize its first lead at 41-39 with less than two minutes remaining in the half. The Beavers concluded the first half on a 15-0 surge, entering halftime ahead 46-39.

Rataj was the leading scorer for the Beavers in the first half with 18 points.

The Beavers escalated their lead to 12 early in the second period, yet the Pilots fought back to narrow it to five. The teams exchanged blows throughout the majority of the final quarter until Oregon State widened its lead to 15 points with 3:10 left in the game.

From that point on, Oregon State maintained control, securing the victory by 10.

The Beavers will travel on Thursday to face LMU.

OUR MISSION
Oregon State Athletics aims to Develop Excellent Authentic Visionary Student-Athletes (Go BEAVS).