OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Oregon State’s magical season came to an end when it lost to VCU, 75-67, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Chesapeake Energy Arena on Friday.
The Beavers (19-13) advanced to the Big Dance for the first time in 26 years, notched their best conference record since 1993 (9-9) and reenergized a fan base with several highlight plays and exciting games during the 2016-16 campaign.
“Obviously disappointing loss,” Oregon State head coach Wayne Tinkle said. “We’d like to have advanced. Really proud of the fight our guys showed. We got down double figures the first half, second half came back and got in the lead, but short lived.
“Give a lot of credit, obviously, to Virginia Commonwealth. Their physicality, I think, won out in the end.”
Oregon State didn’t go down without a fight in its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1990. Trailing 49-41 with 11:52 to play, the Beavers went on a 10-0 run to take a 51-49 lead. Freshman Derrick Bruce sparked the rally with a pair of 3-pointers and senior Gary Payton II finished it with a layup and highlight dunk.
With the score tied 52-52, VCU (25-10) showed its tournament experience by scoring the next six points and the Beavers were unable to get closer than four points the rest of the game.
Payton II ended his spectacular two-year Oregon State career with 19 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals.
Bruce made three 3-pointers and scored 15 points off the bench, while freshmanDrew Eubanks added 13 points and five rebounds. Freshman Tres Tinkle missed his fifth consecutive game with an injured right foot.
JeQuan Lewis led VCU had 21 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. The Rams finished the game with 46 of their 75 points near the basket, and they shot 48.2 percent (27 of 56) from the field.
It was the final game at Oregon State for seniors Daniel Gomis, Langston Morris-Walker, Jarmal Reid, Olaf Schaftenaar and Payton II.
“Last two years has been amazing,” Payton II said. “Coach (Tinkle) and his staff came in expecting — everybody was expecting the worst. We didn’t buy into that and we got straight to work the first year. We had a great year turnout, we got picked last, but we didn’t settle.
“We did what we did last year and we came back this year and got the young guys under our wings and put them on the same program that Coach put us on and we made a great run. I wish it was longer, but we had a good run.”
– via Oregon State Athletics
