Corvallis, OR – Stanford led from start to finish and stunned Oregon State 83-60 Thursday night in Corvallis. The Cardinal played an aggressive extended man to man defense, zone, and multiple trap schemes to keep the Beavers off-balance throughout the contest. Oscar de Silva led the winners with 23 points, nine rebounds and seven assists as he played his most complete game of the season. . 7-0 Cardinal senior center Josh Sharma scored 14 of his 20 points (8-10 FG, 4-5 FT) in the second half. He added eight rebounds and two blocks in just 24 minutes of play. The Beavers defense could not slow down Stanford’s attack, as they never got within ten points in the second half.
For Oregon State senior guard Stephen Thompson Jr. scored 15 points (6-18 FG, 3-5 FT) with five rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks. It wasn’t Thompson Jr.’s best shooting game, however he did compete on both ends of the floor. He also made a few degree of difficulty running floating shots that require supreme touch and concentration. Pac-12 player of the week Tres Tinkle finished with 16 points (6-12 FG, 4-5 FT) with three rebounds, three assists and two steals. Tinkle continues to make nice decisions with a high IQ off his pivots.
For Stanford NBA Prospect, KZ Okpala did not have his best performance offensively only scoring 10 points on 2-of-9 from the field. However, he did generate some points from the free throw line, making 6-of-6, in addition to his five rebounds and three assists. The 6-9 sophomore is a very talented skilled ball handler at his size, with a nice breakdown game attacking the baseline or going into the middle of the paint as a slasher. Although he’s shooting 41 percent on 3-pointers on the season, he didn’t seem to be interested in shooting from deep tonight.
The 6-3 sophomore point guard Daejon Davis was having a solid game prior to his head injury early in the second half. He finished with 11 points (4-5 FG, 3-3 3FG), three assists and one steal. Davis was good applying pressure defensively and orchestrating the Cardinal transition game with his speed, quickness, ball handling, shooting, and athleticism. Da Silva played the most complete game of anyone on the floor with aggressiveness, toughness, athleticism, defense, and shooting skills. Da Silva is a talented player on both ends of the floor, with or without the ball in his hands.
Stanford came into the game ranked 238th among all Division 1 schools in three-point shooting. Tonight, helped by a perfect 3-of-3 from Davis, they shot a solid 8-of-15. Long distance shooting was one of the keys of the game as the Beavers connected on only 1-of-12.
Oregon State (14-8, 6-4) hosts California (0-10, 5-17) on Saturday, while Stanford (12-10, 5-5) travels to Eugene, to play Oregon (14-9, 5-5) on Sunday.
This article was written by Lorenzo Leaks, a correspondent and scout for NetScouts Basketball. You can follow us on Facebook, or on twitter.
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