CORVALLIS — In the midst of a resurgent season, Wayne Tinkle and the Oregon State men’s basketball team got their long-awaited signature win on Thursday.
The Beavers survived a thrilling shootout at Gill Coliseum to upset No. 16 Gonzaga, 97-89, and capture their biggest win in recent program history. It’s OSU’s first win over a top-25 opponent since it knocked off Arizona in Corvallis last January.
For a program that has been pushing to reestablish its identity for the past half-decade, Thursday’s victory was a pivotal one for Tinkle and his squad in front of a sold-out home crowd.
“You know, this young team is still learning. But just a great way tonight of coming, drawing that line in the sand and saying, ‘Not tonight, we’re gonna get it done,'” Tinkle said. “You all know my respect for that program, for (head coach Mark Few). They had some unbelievable performances. They manhandled us on the boards. But our guys found a way to pull it out. I couldn’t be more proud.”
With the win, Oregon State improved to 14-5 on the year and 4-2 in the West Coast Conference. Gonzaga, meanwhile, dropped to 14-5 and 5-1.
Junior forward Michael Rataj carried the Beavers with a career-high 29 points on 9-of-15 shooting. He scored 10 of those points in overtime — including a gutsy pull-up three on Oregon State’s first possession of the extra period to set the tone.
“I just felt like, at some point, my teammates trusted me to make the right plays,” Rataj said. “I was just trying to drive, make a shot and help us win. That’s what it’s all about.”
Sophomore guard Josiah Lake II and sophomore forward Liutauras Lelevicius each went just 1-of-2 from the field on the night. But the pair of OSU starters each made an outsized impact for the Beavers nonetheless; with Oregon State leading 91-89 with 36 seconds left in overtime, Lelevicius carved his way to the basket for an acrobatic layup to make it a two-score game.
Lake forced a Gonzaga turnover on the ensuing inbounds pass and drew a foul. He buried the pair of free throws to, for all intents and purposes, seal the win for the Beavers.
“(OSU assistant coach Marlon Stewart) told me in the timeout, ‘I need you to get the ball. Whether it’s a rebound, loose ball,'” Lake said. “So, that’s something I had in the back of my mind. I just wanted to make winning plays for the team..”
Oregon State was badly outrebounded on the night by a margin of 41-28. The home team escaped Gill with a win despite attempting 19 less field goals than Gonzaga did.
The Beavers stayed in contention in the first half largely due to the shooting touch of senior guard Nate Kingz. A former McNary High star who missed last season with a knee injury, Kingz scored 17 points on 5-of-5 shooting in the first half. He finished the evening with 20 points and tied for a team-high plus-15 box plus-minus.
“He was great,” Tinkle said of Kingz. “There were a couple of guys I was worried about in this environment, but he ate it up. Boy, he ate it up. Made some big shots for us and made some good plays for us.”
Oregon State was one stop away from winning the game in regulation. But Gonzaga big man Graham Ike, who finished with a team-high 26 points, drilled a desperation 3-pointer with four seconds remaining to force overtime. It was his only attempt of the night from beyond the arc.
But Rataj’s banked 3-pointer to open the extra period stabilized the Beavers. A little over a minute later, Rataj canned a difficult step-back three that gave OSU control of the game for good.
“We played really, really good offense,” Few said. “We just could not get consistent stops for longer stretches. I thought we came out in the second half and played with a little more intensity on the defensive end. (OSU) were still able to hit some tough shots; they hit some real back-breakers there.”
Oregon State’s win Thursday came in front of the first sellout crowd for the school’s mens basketball team since 2019. OSU announced an attendance of 9,301.
“We’ll savor this one. It’s big for our program,” Tinkle said. “We’ve had really big crowds at Gill and damnit, when we pack this thing, we play at a different level. I’ve been a little upset. The people who have been showing up have been great. We’ve got a team that plays their (butts) off. They play together. We need to pack this thing, man.
“If they haven’t earned it tonight, shame on us. But I’ve got a feeling that it’s going to be the way down the stretch.”
Jarrid Denney covers high school sports and Oregon State for the Statesman Journal. He can be reached at JDenney@salem.gannett.com or on X @jarrid_denney
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: How Rataj carried Oregon State to thrilling signature win over Gonzaga
