HOOPS: Beavers' season comes to an end

OREGON STATE WASN'T able to run, wasn't able to dictate the pace against Washington State in the CBI semifinal game in Corvallis. Down by ten at the half, Oregon State never put together a big enough run and recorded their lowest offensive output of the season in the 72-55 loss.

The Beavers were without Ahmad Starks, who was fighting an illness. Starks is the Beavers' sparkplug and best three-point shooter and without his instant offense, OSU couldn't string together points in bunches when they needed to most.

WSU lost Pac-12 leading scorer Brock Motum in the first two minutes to an ankle injury. But even without the 6-10 post, OSU never mounted much of an inside game against the shorter Cougars, apart from the efforts of Eric Moreland (14 points, 11 rebounds). Jared Cunningham finished with 13 points on 5-12 shooting.

The Beavs were burned most by Abe Lodwick, who scored 16 points over the final seven minutes of the first half. He drilled five three pointers en route to a career high 23 points. He also had 12 rebounds. Point guard Reggie Moore also scored 22 points.

But the main culprit in the loss was tempo. WSU wanted to grind it out and the Beavers, unable to play at a faster clip, went along. The Pac-12's highest-scoring team shot only 38 percent from the floor, including 2-of-12 from beyond the arc.

OSU also got into the bonus early in both halves, but didn't hit enough of their foul shots to truly make the Cougars pay. OSU went to the line 28 times as opposed to WSU's 17, but connected on only 15 free throws.