CORVALLIS – Oregon denied Oregon State its first 5-0 start in 38 years as the Ducks rallied from a 12-point deficit in the second half to beat the Beavers 78-75 Thursday night at Gill Coliseum.

Nate Bittle scored a career-high 23 points and Jackson Shelstad scored 11 of his 15 points during the second half to lead the comeback.

The Ducks (5-0) extended their winning streak over Oregon State to eight games.

Bittle also had 14 rebounds for Oregon, which shot 49% (30 of 61) from the floor. The Ducks, trailing 61-49 with twelve minutes remaining, went on a 20-5 run to take over.

Michael Rataj had 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead Oregon State (4-1). Liutauras Lelevicius scored 13 points for the Beavers, who last started a season 5-0 in 1986.

Oregon State went down largely because of the shooting in the second half. The Beavers, who led by 10 at halftime, shot 7 of 25 in the second half.

Oregon State led all but 80 seconds into the first half and took a 47-37 lead into halftime. Aside from giving up too many open three-pointers, the Beavers played good defense, especially inside. OSU outscored the Ducks 20-13 through the first 20 minutes. Rataj and Lelevicius combined to score 28 of Oregon State’s 47 points.

The best spurt of the first half for the Beavers came with about five minutes left. Leading 31-29 after a three from Brandon Angel, Oregon State ran off nine straight points to take its largest lead of the game. Lelevicius hit a three and scored on a rebound basket during the spurt.

Oregon rebounded with six straight points to cut the lead to five. But OSU scored four points during the final 19 seconds, including a Matthew Marsh tip-in at the buzzer, to take a 10-point lead at the break.

Bittle was Oregon’s offense early in the second half, scoring nine of the Ducks’ first 10 points. But the Beavers maintained a double-digit lead through the first nine minutes as a Minor Three gave OSU a 61-49 lead.

Oregon started to make a run, when a Jadrian Tracy three capped a 6-0 run and pulled the Ducks to within five. Oregon came within four points and might have gotten closer if not for Minor. The OSU senior guard, who missed his first seven shots, hit three straight shots, including a pair of threes, to give the Beavers a 66-59 lead with eight minutes left.

Oregon then hit OSU on a 7-0 run, capped by a Bittle layup, to tie the game at 66 with six minutes remaining. Shelstad then made it 10 straight points when his three with 5:23 left put the Ducks ahead 69-66.

Each team tried to take the lead. OSU led 72-71, but lost the lead when Shelstad buried a three with 2:41 remaining. Shelstad then hit a tough runner with 30 seconds left to increase the lead to 76-73.

The Ducks held off an attempt to tie the game in the final second when Rataj’s three looked off the rim at the buzzer.

Oregon State returns to action on Monday when the Beavers play their first road game of the season at North Texas. Tipoff is 5:00 PM in Denton, Texas.

–Nick Daschel can be reached at 360-607-4824, [email protected] or @nickdaschel.

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