Beavs caught flat footed against Stanford

OREGON STATE HAD just played a solid first half in their opening round Pac-10 Tournament game. They had energy on defense, were moving well on both ends of the court and took a seven point lead into the locker room. But it all came unraveled in the opening minutes of the second half.

Lathen Wallace was a scoring machine (18 points) against Stanford, mixing in dribble drives with a sharpshooter's outside touch.

He even went in among the trees at one point and floated home a skyhook.

But it wasn't enough to compensate for the Beavs' defensive lapses, and OSU lost 62-54 on Wednesday.

Oregon State, down by eight in the second half, put together a furious comeback to climb to within a point 51-50 with 3:45 left in the game. But three straight missed free throws opened the door for Stanford, who outscored OSU 11-3 the rest of the way.

Too often in the second half, the Beavers were caught flat footed on defense -- a polar opposite to how they played the first half.

One prime example came with 8:30 left in the game and Stanford leading 45-41 -- an errant Cardinal shot clanked off the rim and floated by three Beaver defenders, none of whom made a move for the ball. A surprised Stanford player grabbed the ball and was fouled. It gave Stanford another possession and they pushed the lead to six points.

The defensive energy from Oregon State in the first half, however, was more than apparent. The Beavs forced 11 turnovers in the first half and had the Cardinal looking out of sorts.

Wallace paced OSU in the early going, scoring seven of the Beavs' first nine points. And Oregon State steadily built a 28-21 halftime lead.

But Stanford used a 14-2 run to start the second half to blow by the Beavs, taking a 35-30 lead before the half was four minutes old.

Roland Schaftenaar's hook finally stopped the bleeding and drew the Beavs within three. Both teams looked out of rhythm for the next several possessions before Oregon State recaptured some of their first half form.

Schaftenaar later found Wallace on a backdoor cut and the bucket seemed to reenergize the Beaver D. Wallace followed the deuce with a three ball and Oregon State reclaimed the lead 37-35 with 12:30 remaining.

It would be all too brief an advantage for Beaver fans.

Stanford came back on a 7-2 run and built their advantage to 42-37 midway through the second half. Oregon State made it interesting down in crunch time and if they had hit their foul shots, momentum might have stayed in their corner.

But Stanford instead pulled away and got their first win over the Beavs in three tries to eliminated Oregon State in the tournament's first round.

Schaftenaar was the only other Beaver in double figures, scoring 12 points. Calvin Haynes suffered through an off night, scoring seven points on 2-11 shooting and turned the ball over five times. Daniel Deane led the Beavs with six rebounds while Seth Tarver, Schaftenaar and Haynes collected five each.