Heading into Thursday, Oregon State men’s basketball was presented with a chance to right some of its wrongs on the road. Three of the next four games were at Portland, at Pepperdine and at San Diego, the three teams at the bottom of the WCC standings.

Three road wins could have at least quieted some of that noise. But in the first test, the Beavers couldn’t come through.

Portland got off to a great start and closed out strong en route to an 84-72 win over Oregon State at Chiles Center.

It’s a disheartening loss for the Beavers, as Portland entered the game with an 8-17 record, 3-9 in the WCC, as well as sitting outside the top-300 in the country in ranking metrics like the NET and KenPom.

It was a major missed opportunity for Oregon State:

Setting the tone: Portland came to play early, going up by 11 through 10 minutes of the first half. Oregon State would work back to tie it before trailing by four at the break, but Portland showed it would be a tough out.

In the first 20 minutes, the Pilots shot 58% from the field and 55% from beyond the arc.

Oregon State_Mens Basketball_Damarco Minor (copy)

Damarco Minor had six points in Oregon State’s loss to Portland on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025.

Missed chances: Oregon State would cut the lead to two with 8:42 to go, but then went ice cold, allowing Portland to pull away. Over that final 8:42, the Beavers only put up 11 points, compared to 19 for the Pilots.

Oregon State shot 1-9 from beyond the arc in the second half, ending any chances of a comeback.

Game balls: The Beavers could not stop forward Austin Rapp all night. The Pilot freshman had 24 points on 9-15 shooting, plus 5-11 from beyond the arc. Guard Max Mackinnon also had a big night with 17.

Michael Rataj bounced back from his three-point effort against St. Mary’s with a team-high 22 points. But only him, Parsa Fallah with 16 and Nate Kingz with 11 finished in double figures.

Up next: Oregon State (17-9, 7-6) will look to do what it’s done all season and bounce back at home against Pacific on Saturday at 3 p.m. hoping to avoid a three-game losing streak.

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