BEAVS SHACKLE OREGON IN HOOPS CIVIL WAR

IT WAS NOT pretty at times, but it was thrilling. The Beaver lapses, particularly in the first half, were many. But Oregon State tightened things up -- so while UO sharpshooter Tajuan Porter rained 19 points over the first 20 minutes, the Beavers answered in limiting Oregon to a mere 19 points total in the second half, and OSU slugged their way to a 57-54 victory in the Civil War on the hardcourt.

Omari Johnson was the guy who kept the Beavs in it in the first half -- when OSU trailed by as many as 12 points.

And Calvin Haynes helped key the decisive run to help get the Beavs the win, evening their record at 10-10 and logging their fourth conference win and keeping Oregon winless in the Pac-10.

The Beavers forced 20 turnovers on the night -- and 10 of them were steals. Oregon State was simply stifling on defense in the second half.

At the 14:03 mark of the second half -- before a near sellout Gill Coliseum crowd for the 330th hoops Civil War -- and with the Beavs down by three, Rickey Claitt kicked off an 11-2 Beaver run, knotting the game at 39-39 from long range.

Haynes, who led the Beavers in scoring with 15, then put Oregon State on top 42-39 from downtown. The Beavs never trailed again, and OSU eventually stretched the advantage to 47-41 in front of a raucous crowd of 10,129 black and orange partisans.

Both teams tightened up the defense from that point on. Oregon cut the Beaver lead to three with 4:30 remaining on a trey by Porter -- but it was Porter's first and only bucket of the second half, a far cry from the opening half when he stuck 5-of-7 three-pointers on his way to 19 first half points.

A fortuitous three point bank shot by Roeland Schaftenaar with time running down on the shot clock pushed the OSU lead back up to six with 2:00 remaining. Oregon cut it to four, and then it seemed neither team could find the bucket.

With the Ducks looking to foul, Oregon State could have closed it out earlier but missed a confounding six straight free throws -- on the night the Beavs shot under 50 percent from the line, hitting 9-of-19. The Ducks had their own problems at the charity stripe, namely, getting to it. UO was 4-7 at the line for the game while hoisting up 23 from three-point land.

But Oregon, for their part, couldn't connect on the offensive end down the stretch though they had their chances -- not until a UO dunk with but one second remaining cut the lead to two. Schaftenaar, the Beavs' best free throw shooter, made one of two to push the margin to three with 0.4 seconds left and the Ducks' desperation heave at the end, if it got off in time, drew nothing but air.

In the first half, the Ducks took control, pushing out to a double digit lead. But Johnson brought the Beavs back when they needed the lift most -- first with a slam, then with a rejection that brought the crowd to their feet.

Later, with Oregon looking to take an eight point lead into the locker room, Johnson calmly drilled a difference making three-pointer at half's end to cut the lead to a more manageable five. He scored 14 points, 11 coming in the first half, on 5-of-8 shooting.

Lazy passes and defensive lapses, combined with an inability to rebound, made for a tense opening half for Beaver fans -- 15 of Oregon's first half points came off nine Beaver turnovers.

But OSU began to seize the momentum as the game moved towards halftime and carried it over to the the second half.

Oregon State now leads the long-running series 181-149.