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CBI Championship Series, Game 1: Oregon State holds serve against UTEP with efficiency, free throws

The Oregon State Beavers wanted to defend their home court in college basketball's only multi-game postseason series. The Texas-El Paso Miners simply didn't want to defend.
 
Oregon State took advantage of UTEP's deficient defense to top the Miners, 75-69, in Game 1 of the second annual College Basketball Invitational Championship Series. The win in Corvallis sends the best-of-three battle to El Paso for Wednesday's Game 2, with the Beavers enjoying a 1-0 lead.
 
The simple truth of this contest was that coach Tony Barbee's Miners, who love to go up and down the floor on offense, were mentally whipped by the Beavers. Coach Craig Robinson watched with satisfaction as his ballclub made UTEP work, chase, and strain in halfcourt situations, trying in vain to keep pace with Oregon State's structured offensive system. Run-and-gun teams hate to defend for 30-35 seconds on each and every possession, but that's what the home team did in the cozy confines of Gill Coliseum. The Beavers might have entered the game with a subpar average of just 60 points per contest, but OSU might as well have been the North Carolina Tar Heels on the last Monday of March. The Miners found it that difficult to defend, and that's what decided the ballgame.
 
To put the Beavers' offensive explosion (and it was just that) in perspective, consider a few facts. This 75-point showing represented the season's third-highest scoring output for Oregon State in regulation time. OSU scored 79 points in an early-season loss to Montana State, but that came in overtime--the Beavers tallied just 68 points after 40 minutes of action.
 

This toppling of UTEP also stood out because the Beavers achieved it on the strength of 61-percent field goal shooting (26-of-43, to be exact). OSU guard Seth Tarver hit all eight of his field goal attempts, while center Roeland Schaftenaar went 5-of-8 from the field and guard Lathen Wallace knocked down five 3-pointers in just seven attempts. How unusual are these numbers for the eighth-place team in the Pac-10 Conference? Consider this: The trio of Tarver, Schaftenaar and Wallace--which entered Monday night's action with a combined average of 25 points per game--threw down a total of 54 points against their visitors from the western tip of Texas. Add on a 26-9 advantage in free throw attempts, and one had the full formula for a game dominated by Oregon State's offensive efficiency.
 
As improbable as it may seem in light of all the numbers just mentioned, UTEP found a way to make the home folks sweat. Once down by 21 points with 14:31 left in the second half, the Miners used their pick axe and started pecking away at the OSU lead. A flurry of baskets by speedy guards Randy Culpepper (20 points) and Stefon Jackson (17 points, but at the cost of an inefficient 6-of-21 shooting night) sliced the Beavers' advantage to 66-63 with 1:14 left.

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Unfortunately for Barbee--who, earlier in the day, was rumored to be a potential replacement for John Calipari if the Memphis coach does indeed finalize a deal with Kentucky--his players continued to foul at a time when they didn't need to do so. A foul by UTEP's Julyan Stone with 1:11 left, just three seconds after the Miners clawed within one 3-pointer of a possible tie, sent OSU's Rickey Claitt to the foul line. Claitt, who finished with 13 points, nailed both shots, and after Jackson missed for UTEP at the other end, the visitors lost the plot. Schaftenaar hit two more charity pitches to nudge the lead to 70-63, and the Beavers not only reached .500 near the end of their season (with a 17-17 record); they moved within one game of a championship.
 
It's on to El Paso for Game 2. As two college basketball teams get to feel each other out, the task is clear for the Miners: Defend harder and smarter. If UTEP can't display more patience and tenacity at the defensive end of the floor, Tony Barbee's team will have to watch a championship celebration on its own home court.

By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Staff Writer