The Barometer Online

November 4th, 2007

Men’s first exhibition

Practice speed doesn’t equal game speed. But for the Oregon State men’s basketball team, a lot can be learned during the first game. The entire Oregon State team had a great outing against Warner Pacific and came out with the victory, 78-55, over the Knights.
 

Had a chance to chat with Mike Parker for a few minutes during the game and he is excited for the upcoming season. Parker had just gotten into town from calling the football game in L.A. and wasn’t calling the game in Gill. He said this is an exciting team to watch. I can’t argue.
 

The Beavers started slow on offense but played great team defense early in the game and set the tempo throughout. The defense really got started with 15:45 left in the fist half after Josh Tarver sank two free throws to make it 8 – 3 and the Beavers switched up the line up and moved to a full court press defense.
 

Calvin Haynes checked in for Sean Carter, The Roc, and helped the Beavers grab a quick four points and a 9 point lead. They were playing what I like to call a sticky defense, a very tight man coverage. No room to wiggle for the Knights players.
 

Roeland Shaftenaar was a big part of the defense. During the game he looked strong and has really put on some mass during the off-season. The girth hasn’t changed much, but he looks much more comfortable inside and can absorb contact much better. He finished the game with seven points, six rebounds and two steals.
 

On offense the Beavers recovered from early sloppiness after they only led by one with 8:27 to go in the first half.  They went on a 22 – 4 run to finish off the half. Carter, was apart of the sloppy play early on, he finished the first half 1-for-5 with two points and three turnovers. But got better in the second half, and would finish 6-for-15 with 14 points.
 

Seth Tarver was behind a lot of the offensive production with the ball and away from it. He set screens on the outside and took on two and three defenders when he had control of the ball.
 

The bright spot for the Beavers was Redshirt Lathen Wallace. In the first with 7:08 to play he hit a three pointer and next possession went in for a lay up between two defenders.
 

This kid can flat out play. In the first half, he played nine minutes. In those nine minutes he scored nine points and had four rebounds and three steals. Very aggressive on the ball, plays hard away from the ball and more importantly plays defense, he finished the game 6-for-11 with 15 points, five rebounds and five steals.
 

The second half was uneventful for the Beavers. Much the same. They were too much for the undersized and weaker Warner Pacific.
S.Tarver had to leave the game with 14:47 left in the second half with some cramps in his thigh to which Josh Tarver said, as he walked up the court, “He’s being a (deleted)“
 

Got to love brothers.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 4th, 2007 at 11:39 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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