Are the Beavs making another late season run?

DON’T LOOK NOW, but are the Beavs doing it again? Similar to last year’s late season run, the Beaver basketballers have put together some surprising wins of late and the latest came against Cal, who just so happens to be leading the Pac-10. And in the 80-64 OSU victory, it really wasn’t that close.

The box score will show Roeland Schaftenaar had a huge game, matching his season high with 22 points against Cal. But this win was also about the youth – Joe Burton was seemingly everywhere on the court with eight rebounds – and off, as he was diving off the court for virtually any and all loose balls.

“Joe is on his way to becoming a really good player,’’ said OSU coach Craig Robinson.

Oregon State (12-13, 6-7) has not shot well this year, their struggles to score points have been consistent. Not the case against Cal, who the Beavs have now beaten three of the last four meetings.

OSU shot 54 percent from the floor and their 80 points was a season high -- and the first time OSU had scored as many as 70 points since December.

In addition to Schaftenaar, four other Beavers were in double figures -- Seth Tarver had 16, Burton went for 12, rising frosh Jared Cunningham logged 11 and Calvin Haynes hooped for 10.

And after Oregon State took a 7-5 lead, they never again trailed. Instead it turned into a blowout, with the Beavers leading by as many as 19 points in the second half.

The win was also much about defense. Namely, Oregon State’s zone. The Beavs held Jerome Randle, who has lit up the Pac-10 recently, to just 2-for-9 shooting from the field and 0-for-5 from 3-point range. He scored but six points.

And when Cal would try to make a run, there was the zone, stopping them in their tracks.

The Beavs took a 52-40 lead on Burton’s three-pointer with 12:56 remaining and then pushed it to 65-50 with just under seven minutes left. Cal never got closer than 10 points the rest of the game.

The Beavs play host to Stanford on Saturday at 12 pm (TV: FSN-NW). They’ll come in riding a two game winning streak (Arizona, Cal) while Stanford (12-14, 6-8) got back on the winning side of things by beating the Ducks on the road in Eugene on Thursday, 72-65.