Michael Rataj’s second-half explosion leads Oregon State past Santa Clara

CORVALLIS – Oregon State rode the second-half scoring of Michael Rataj and the savvy play of senior guard Damarco Minor on Saturday to a 83-69 win over Santa Clara at Gill Coliseum.

Much like he did during Thursday’s win over Pepperdine, Rataj caught fire after halftime, scoring 22 of his career-high 30 points during the second half.

The 6-foot-9 Rataj, the West Coast Conference’s second-leading scorer, hit 9 of 17 field goal tries and went 10 of 10 at the free throw line. Rataj is averaging 25 points over his last four games.

The Beavers (16-6, 6-3 WCC) played at a high level with Minor in the game. Minor had 10 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three steals to lead the Oregon State attack.

Nate Kingz scored 16 and Liutauras Lelevicius 10 for the Beavers, who shot 54%. It is the sixth time in nine WCC games Oregon State has shot better than 50%.

The win briefly pulls Oregon State into a second-place tie with San Francisco, Gonzaga and Santa Clara (14-7, 6-3) in the WCC. Gonzaga and San Francisco play later Saturday night.

Oregon State cooled down Santa Clara, which came to Corvallis with victories in five of its last six games, including a win at Gonzaga. Adama Bal led the Broncos with 13 points.

Oregon State led 32-30 at halftime, but the margin could have been larger had the Broncos not closed the half on a 9-2 run. The Beavers had some spectacular moments, but also had several empty offensive stretches. Santa Clara also picked apart Oregon State’s defense several times for easy layups.

The Beavers were aggressive early, taking a 9-3 lead three minutes into the game. Santa Clara bounced back, taking an 18-17 lead on a free throw by Christoph Tilly nine minutes before halftime. Oregon State had its best stretch of the game, outscoring the Broncos 13-3 over a five-minute period to take a nine-point lead. The Beavers only points during the final four minutes of the half were two free throws by Lelevicius.

Oregon State’s defense impacted the early stages of the second half. The Broncos managed only one field goal during the first six minutes as the Beavers opened a 45-32 lead. But each time OSU threatened to run away, Santa Clara responded.

One such move came midway through the second half, after the Beavers took a 55-43 lead. The Broncos turned up the defense, hit some threes on the way a 13-2 run to cut the OSU advantage to one point with seven minutes remaining.

Back came Oregon State, as Kingz and Rataj hit three-pointers, and Rataj had a three-point play to build the lead back to 68-60.

Santa Clara couldn’t stop Oregon State down the stretch, as the Beavers hit their final six shots of the game.

Oregon State returns to action Tuesday when the Beavers travel to Spokane at play Gonzaga at 8 p.m. Earlier this season, OSU beat the Bulldogs 97-89 in overtime.

–Nick Daschel can be reached at 360-607-4824, ndaschel@oregonian.com or @nickdaschel.

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