EUGENE — Oregon’s Payton Pritchard and Oregon State’s Tres Tinkle represent what is right about college basketball.
They are star players, team leaders, seniors who have played out their eligibility at one school, who go it at both ends of the floor with hustle, grit and skill.
In an otherwise forgettable Civil War men’s basketball game Thursday night before a crowd of 10,098 at Matthew Knight Arena, Pritchard and Tinkle played every minute that mattered.
Tinkle was on the floor for the first 37 minutes. Pritchard didn’t come out until the final minute.
Oregon won 69-54 and Pritchard was in the middle of everything the Ducks did right. The 6-foot-2 guard who already is the school record-holder for assists, victories and starts, scored a game-high 23 points, making 5 of 8 three-point attempts.
Tinkle finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds, leaving the game five points short of the OSU career scoring record currently held by Gary Payton.
Time is running out on the college careers of both players.
The regular season concludes next week. The No. 14 Ducks (22-7) appear headed to another NCAA Tournament appearance. The Beavers appear headed in the wrong direction.
OSU (15-13) has lost four consecutive games and will need to catch fire in the Pac-12 tournament to reach any sort of postseason tournament.
Pritchard, who wasn’t made available to the media, clearly had the upper hand on Thursday. But the 6-7 Tinkle has had the better of it over the course of his career, going 5-3 against the Ducks.
“It’s been fun,” Tinkle said. “I’ve got to know him a little better in the last year. Obviously, he’s had a great career. He’s a great player. He’s tough. He’s competitive, too.”
Tinkle needed more help than he got on this night. Oregon ganged up on him defensively. Guard Ethan Thompson was the only other OSU player to help shoulder the load.
The Ducks began doubling Thompson in the second half. OSU didn’t seem to have another scoring option.
“We have to have contributions from everybody, offensively and defensively,” said OSU coach Wayne Tinkle, Tres’ dad. “When we get that, we’re a better team.”
When they don’t, the Beavers are apt to be looking up from the wrong end of a double-digit loss. This isn’t a new problem. For OSU fans, it’s worrisome.
Tres Tinkle won’t be there next year. Thompson is a junior who might or might not be back. Wayne Tinkle needs to come up with an offensive plan before next season.
The 2020-21 season will be the first the elder Tinkle will begin without his son as a prime scoring option since 2015-16.
The Beavers went to the NCAA Tournament that season, the only time they have done that in Tinkle’s five-plus years and the school’s first visit since 1990.
Next fall, they will be starting over. Again.
It’s been three decades since OSU was a national basketball power. At some point, you have to wonder what in the name of Ralph Miller is going on.
Since Miller retired in 1989, the Beavers have cycled through Jim Anderson, Eddie Payne, Ritchie McKay, Jay John, Craig Robinson and, now Tinkle. Tinkle, who is 90-94 at OSU, is the most successful of the bunch.
It’s a different story at Oregon, where coach Dana Altman annually seems to cobble together a group of transfers and mismatched parts and win 20 games.
On Thursday he had Pritchard, the best player on the floor. Wayne Tinkle paid tribute.
“We knew Payton was going to come out and look to have a big game,” the OSU coach said. “And give him credit. He hit some big shots. Sometimes we weren’t there. Others, we were, with a high hand, and he knocked them down.
“He really stepped up.”
-- Ken Goe
Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.