CORVALLIS – During the first year of his college career, Stephen Thompson Jr. was front and center for two of the most memorable moments in recent Oregon State men’s basketball history.
The guard was not even a starter when he twice scored the game-winning points with less than a second on the clock, finalizing key wins in the Beavers’ path to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 26 years.
On Sunday night, facing the tipping point of a year that threatened history on the opposing end of the spectrum, it was Thompson again who saved OSU. Coming off one of his worst games of the season, he had 11 of his career-high 31 points in the final 2 minutes, 34 seconds of a 68-67 win over Utah.
The victory snapped a 14-game losing streak, marked the Beavers’ first win of the calendar year and ended any possibility Oregon State (5-23, 1-14 Pac-12) would go 0-18 in league play for the first time since 2008.
“Our guys deserve to taste some success,” coach Wayne Tinkle said. “Not one of them has gone south on us.”
Unlike on prior nights of the losing streak, when the Beavers sat together in the locker room for several minutes to digest another disheartening defeat, they emerged relatively quickly Sunday. The mood was one that led sophomore forward Drew Eubanks, who finished with 12 points, six blocks and three steals, to pause amid his description.
“It was just a weird feeling,” Eubanks said. “But it was fun. … We haven’t had that feeling in a long time.”
It was Eubanks and Thompson – two pieces of the team’s sophomore core who have been tasked with carrying the load minus injured forward Tres Tinkle – who teamed up on the game-winner.
OSU trailed 67-66 when its defensive pressure forced Utah into a five-second violation under its own basket with 27 second to play. The ball then went to Thompson, who tried to run off multiple screens by Eubanks on the next possession.
“Attack,” Tinkle repeatedly screamed from the sidelines as Utah defender sealed off his lanes to the basket.
With 15 seconds remaining, Eubanks set up another screen for Thompson to drive left from the top of the key. Utah switched defenders and Thompson stopped his dribble just below the free throw line with his back to the basket.
“I stopped and was looking to see if anybody was open,” he said. “Then I noticed the defender relaxed a little bit so I turned to try to shoot around him.”
Thompson then spun to his right and floated an underhand scoop past Utah guard Lorenzo Bonam. The shot gently landed on the back of the rim and rolled through the net with 10.3 seconds to play.
“We’ve been talking to Stevie about exploding to the basket and instead of trying to look to create contact,” Tinkle said. “He had a couple of his best finishes going to the rim tonight.”
Thompson shot 2 of 12 and had eight turnovers in Thursday’s loss to Colorado. On Sunday, he went 11 of 17, 5 of 9 from three-point range and 4 of 4 from the free throw line with one turnover.
“I thought it was really important for me to bounce back tonight,” he said.
The Beavers made their last four shots in the victory, flipping the script on stretches of offensive futility have been a familiar hallmark of a season that had sunk to surprising lows.
Sunday initially followed a pattern that had become all too familiar. OSU jumped out to an early 16-6 lead after back-to-back three-pointers from Thompson and Kendal Manuel (eight points, five rebounds and three assists).
But the Utes answered, closing the half on a 22-8 run. They made a 12-2 run when Thompson went to the bench with two fouls and had a 28-24 lead into halftime.
Utah (17-10, 8-7) bullied OSU down low with Kyle Kuzma (19 points, nine rebounds) and David Collette (13 points), outscoring the Beavers 42-24 in the paint and winning the rebounding battle 36-25. When lightly-used reserve Gabe Bealer drilled three-pointers from the left side of the floor on back-to-back possessions, Utah was suddenly up 51-38 with 11:26 remaining and forced Tinkle to take a timeout.
“We had some tough timeouts where we had to keep challenging our guys to hang in there,” Tinkle said.
The lead was 60-50 when Kuzma gobbled an offensive rebound and putback with 5:04 to play. Yet it marked the Utes’ last field goal for 4 minutes, 29 seconds. Eubanks had two of his six blocks during the stretch when OSU made a 14-4 charge, cleaning up the Beavers’ misguided pick-and-roll coverage.
Following a JaQuori McLaughlin free throw knotted the game at 64, Utah retook the lead on the ensuing possession when Kuzma – a 6-foot-9 forward – popped out behind the arc on the right wing and drilled a three-pointer with 35 seconds to go.
Thompson then raced the length of the floor for a quick layup to cut the deficit to 67-66. After his final make to take the lead, Bonam traveled. Gligorije Rakocevic missed both free throws with 2.6 seconds to play but Kuzma came up well short of shot from beyond half court.
Unlike last season, Sunday’s dramatic win offered no hope of postseason play. It marked the end a potentially infamous record and provided a measurable signifier of progress amid a year when little showed. It also provided post-game smiles that had recently become a rarity.
After the win, Tinkle joked that Eubanks would be mad he didn’t finish with 20 points and 10 rebounds. When asked if he was mad, Eubanks grinned.
“No,” he said, and walked back to the locker room.
— Danny Moran
dmoran@oregonian.com
@DannyJMoran
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