After being picked to finish last in the preseason poll, Oregon State stunned Colorado to win the Pac-12 tournament championship and clinch an NCAA tournament bid.
After being picked to finish dead last in the Pac-12 preseason media poll, the Beavers are going dancing.
Oregon State finished off an improbable run to a Pac-12 tournament title by knocking off No. 23 Colorado, 70-68, in the championship game on Saturday night. The win was the Beavers' sixth in their last seven games and marked their first Pac-12 tournament win in program history.
To get to the championship game, Oregon State erased a double-digit second half deficit to beat No. 4 seed UCLA in overtime in the quarterfinals, then defeated regular season champion and arch-rival Oregon in the semifinals on Friday night.
Against Colorado on Saturday, the Beavers led for most of the way but kept staving off Colorado's attempts to seize control of the game. The Buffaloes trailed by three points with just over two minutes to play, but Oregon State continued to make key stops down the stretch to maintain the lead.
Oregon State shot 48.1% from the field and went 9-for-22 on 3-point attempts. Junior forward Maurice Calloo led the team with 15 points off the bench after averaging just 4.8 points per game on the season.
Senior guard and leading scorer Ethan Thompson had seven points with six rebounds and four assists. Sophomore Jarod Lucas had 14 points on 2-for-7 on 3-point attempts.
Colorado forward Evan Battey scored 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting with eight rebounds. Point guard McKinley Writh IV led the Buffaloes in scoring with 18 points to go along with six rebounds and seven assists.
Oregon State returns to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2016 and just the second time since 1990. The Beavers are looking for their first NCAA tournament win since 1982, when they advanced to the Elite Eight.