via Oregon State Athletic Communications
CORVALLIS – The Oregon State men’s basketball team claimed a big 83-69 win over Santa Clara Saturday evening at Gill Coliseum.
Michael Rataj set a career-high with 30 points on 9-for-17 shooting from the floor and a perfect 10-for-10 mark from the free throw stripe. The forward added six rebounds.
As a team, the Beavers moved to 16-6 on the year and 6-3 in conference play. Oregon State has now won nine-straight home games.
Damarco Minor filled the stat-sheet year again, going for 10 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three steals. Nate Kingz tallied 16 points, while Liutauras Lelevicius added 10. Parsa Fallah returned from injury, scoring nine points off the bench. Maxim Logue went 3-for-4 to end his night with six points and a pair of blocks.
As a team, the Beavers shot 53.8 percent from the floor and went 21-for-22 from the free throw stripe.
Rataj scored six points in the first 3:11 of the contest to help the Beavers open up a 9-3 lead. The teams traded blows from there, as the Broncos got within a score at 15-13 at the under-12 break.
The Oregon State offense heated up in the latter phases of the second half, as the Beavers took a 24-18 advantage with six minutes remaining before the intermission. The Beavers led by as many as nine, but the Broncos battled back to head to the break with OSU in front 32-30.
Oregon State exploded out of the gate in the second half, using an 8-0 run to go up by 13. Santa Clara got back within three with 7:50 to play and ultimately cut the edge to one, but six-straight Beaver points helped OSU restore the cushion.
Rataj came through with some big buckets down the stretch to guide Oregon State to the 14-point victory.
The Beavers will hit the road Tuesday to take on Gonzaga.
