CORVALLIS, Ore. — With the game tied at 58 and 40 seconds remaining, Oregon fought for two offensive rebounds before Jermaine Couisnard slipped the ball to N’Faly Dante who slammed home a ferocious dunk with 1.0 seconds on the clock, stealing a road victory over Oregon State on Saturday night at Gill Coliseum.
The Ducks (17-8, 9-5 Pac-12) led by double-digits for the majority of the second half before the Beavers (11-15, 3-12 Pac-12) clawed their way back into the game late. With just over three minutes to play, Oregon State began a methodical 11-2 scoring run, tying the game with a pair of Jordan Pope free throws with 40.8 seconds remaining. After a called timeout, the Ducks dribbled the shot clock down before missing a layup which was corralled by Brennan Rigsby. Rigsby missed a put-back attempt, grabbed the rebound again and found Couisnard who fed it to Dante to slam home the victory.
Both teams struggled mightily from 3-point range on the night, shooting 4-of-37 combined from distance. Oregon’s size and strength prevailed as the Ducks outscored the Beavers 44-28 in the paint and won the rebound battle 40-30 – including 16 offensive rebounds. Rigsby (5), Couisnard (4) and Kwame Evans Jr. (3) combined for 12 of Oregon’s offensive boards which helped create 18 second-chance points, including the game-winning slam.
Dante was sensational for Oregon, finishing with 22 points, six rebounds and two blocks. Jackson Shelstad was effective in a 15-point performance, while Couisnard added 11 to round out the double-digit scoring for the Ducks.
How It Happened: Oregon got the ball inside early and often with success as Dante went 3-for-3 to tally six points by the first media timeout. After converting on each of their first six attempts, the Ducks missed their next seven from the field which Oregon State used to take a 17-15 lead.
The Oregon defense turned it up a notch after the second media timeout, forcing the Beavers to miss their next eight shots and go scoreless for over five minutes to enable an 11-0 scoring run. Shelstad was particularly stingy on defense as the freshman guard held Oregon State’s leading scorer Pope to six points on 3-of-11 shooting from the floor in the first 20 minutes. Offensively, the Ducks were paced by Shelstad (11 points) and Dante (10 points) who led the charge in building a 36-24 lead by halftime.
Oregon looked in control for the majority of the second half, using its advantage inside to maintain its double-digit lead. A Couisnard jumper with 6:19 on the clock capped a 6-0 scoring run that gave the Ducks a 13-point advantage, but it was then that the Beavers began their response.
Oregon State made seven of its next eight field goal attempts and used efficient free-throw shooting to slowly chip away at the Oregon lead. With the Ducks leading by four, the Beavers grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed free throw and converted it into a layup with a minute and a half to go, forcing an Oregon timeout. A missed shot on the other end by Oregon and a foul on the rebound sent Pope to the line, who tied the game for the first time since 10:25 and set up the final possession for Oregon.
Up Next: The Ducks head to the Bay Area for two games, beginning with a matchup against Stanford on Thursday (Feb. 22) at 8 p.m. PT on ESPN2.
