CORVALLIS, Ore.- The University of Portland men’s basketball team turned in one of the better performances in recent years, winning a tough road game against Pac-10 foe Oregon State, 97-89 at Gill Coliseum. Sophomores Eugene Jeter and Donald Wilson led the way for the Pilots with 25 and 23 points, respectively. Portland (1-1) led almost the entirety of regulation before Oregon State (1-1) sent it into overtime tied at 69 with a persistent second half run.

In the first OT, OSU’s Angelo Tsagarakis and Jeter traded three-pointers to make it 78-78. Later, Nash gave OSU a two-point lead with under 40 seconds left, but Jeter tied it on a driving layup with five seconds left. The Beavers did not get a shot off at the other end of the period.

Jeter’s three from the top of the key made it 87-84 at the 3:25 mark in the second overtime, but the Beavers tied it after a David Lucas layup and J.S. Nash made one-of-two free-throws. Senior guard Adam Quick, who finished with 15 points, hit a huge three-pointer and the Beavers committed an offensive foul giving UP a 90-87 lead with under two minutes to go.

Senior forward Dustin Geddis then made a layup, and after a Pilot defensive stand, sealed it with a three-point play (fouling out Lucas) with 35.5 seconds remaining for an eight-point edge.

The Pilots started the game off with good transition offense, while knocking down 5-of-6 three-pointers in the first seven minutes. Jeter hit his first three attempts, the last beating the shot-clock buzzer with one tick remaining off an inbounds pass at the 9:07 mark. Andreas Gahlmann provided an early spark in the paint with two quick layups before drawing two fouls and being forced to leave the game.

Lucas paced the Beavers’ offense in the first half and finished the game 10-for-16 from the field for 22 points and eight rebounds.

Jeter led the way early, playing all 20 first-half minutes and finishing with 11 points. Portland finished the first period 7-for-12 from three-point range and went into the break with a 36-31 lead. Both teams were a little sloppy on the offensive end racking up nine turnovers each.

The Beaver frontcourt of Lucas and 6-9 freshman Kyle Jeffers came out of halftime strong, scoring OSU’s first seven points to cut the edge to 42-38 with 15:59 left. The Beavers aggressive play down low put Portland in foul trouble, as the Beavers were in the bonus with 13:27 remaining.

Wilson ignited Portland with consecutive three-point plays, giving the Pilots some breathing room with a 52-45 advantage. The first was a dunk off a backdoor pass from Geddis, the latter a finish on transition following a long rebound. Adam Quick’s three-pointer made it a 10-point lead.

The Pilots seemed to have an answer for every OSU run. Patrick Galos made up for a missed dunk by taking it strong to the hoop, getting a layup and a foul with just over 10 minutes to play. Wilson knocked down a clutch trey to get the lead back to double digits at 60-50 with nine minutes to play.

The Beavers gave Portland a taste of their own medicine with the perimeter game late. Jim Hanchett came off the bench for one and Tsagarakis knocked down two, cutting the Pilot lead to three at 65-62. Super sophomores Jeter and Wilson extended it back to a six-point lead with a jumper and two free throws respectively a minute later.

Lucas followed his own miss to make it 69-65 and J.S. Nash made it a two-point affair with a jumper. With under a minute to play, Jeter missed a long three-pointer giving the Beavers a chance to tie or take the lead. OSU went to Stevens who hit a runner in the lane to tie it at 69 and extend the Beavers’ fate.

Stevens finished with 19 points for Oregon State, while Nash and Jim Hanchett chipped in 11 each. Jeter went 5-for-7 from downtown and is now 9-for-11 through the season’s first two games from three-point range.

Portland shot 84 percent from the charity stripe (21-25), 50 percent from the three-point line (12-24) and 50.8 percent from the field (32-63). The deep shot was the key as Portland seemed to net a three each time OSU threatened.

"We kept our composure and that was the key factor in getting the win," said Pilot head coach Michael Holton. "That's tough to do on the road, especially when you are winning the whole game and then all of sudden they send it to overtime."

The Pilots’ halfcourt offense was much more efficient than in their season-opening loss to Boise State, and Holton was thrilled with his teams’ comeback performance.

”As the game wore on we were able to create better spacing and get dribble penetration,” said Holton. “This win says a lot about this team’s character and resiliency, to bounce back from a tough home-opener and get a quality win on the road.”

Portland had not beaten Oregon State in Corvallis since the 1960-61 season, and it was the first win of any kind over the Beavers since 1995.