The Barometer Online

Issue date: 2/20/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Curtis Barnard Junior Seth Tarver drives against Stanford. The former Jesuit High star finished OSU 66-54 win against Stanford with four steals.

If the first time the Oregon State men's basketball team played Stanford was any indication of what kind of fast start this team is capable of, then Thursday night's home game against the Cardinal did not disappoint.

In the last home weekend of the season, the Beavers took it to Stanford early and often by forcing nine turnovers and leading by as many as 19 in the first half.

Roeland Schaftenaar led the charge early for the Beavers with 12 points in the first half while connecting on two deep 3-pointers. Calvin Haynes was also productive early, scoring eight in the first half, as Oregon State took a 27-8 lead with less than six minutes left to play.

"It feels good when your first couple shots go in," Schaftenaar said. "Then you just try to stay aggressive."

However, the Cardinal managed to stem the tide to a certain degree and go on a 9-2 run to close out the half and cut the Beaver lead to just 12 heading into the locker room, with a score of 29-17.

The second half transpired to be nearly an exact duplicate of the first. With the Beavers taking a big lead early, Stanford was able to fight its way back into the game and make it a little too exciting for Beaver Nation.

The second half was the Jeremy Green and Landry Fields show as they rained threes from all over the court to account for nearly 75 percent of Stanford's offense.

"They came out firing in the second half," Haynes said. "They had a good second half shooting performance, but other than that we held our own and we won this game with our defense."

Scoring 19 and 17 points, respectively, Green and Fields kept Stanford in the game up until the very last minute. However, the Cardinal could never get within six points, and when Green fouled out with just over a minute to go, it was over, and the Oregon State Beavers picked up their first series sweep by a score of 66-54. It was the first time Oregon State has swept Stanford since 1992.

"It's really nice to be able to talk about all these things that happen, that haven't happened in a while," Oregon State head coach Craig Robinson said. "You can't put a price on how wonderful it feels, on how great those guys in that locker room feel."

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