No. 7 Oregon State holds off Liberty for Rueck’s 500th win

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) Kennedy Brown scored 16 points, and No. 7 Oregon State had to rally in the second half to beat Liberty 68-55 on Saturday to win the Miami Thanksgiving Classic and give coach Scott Rueck his 500th career win.

Not that many got to see Rueck's milestone. The arena was almost completely empty, with perhaps no more than 50 fans in attendance.

Mikayla Pivec scored 14 and Aleah Goodman had 13 for the Beavers (7-0), who went on an 11-1 run in the second half to take the lead for good.

Ashtyn Baker scored 15 for Liberty (2-6), which has lost 29 consecutive games against ranked opponents. The Flames were outscored 43-25 after halftime.

On paper, this was supposed to be a mismatch. Oregon State came in unbeaten. Liberty won its opener, then arrived in Coral Gables on a five-game losing streak before topping Miami of Ohio on Friday. And the Flames hadn't beaten an opponent from the AP Top 25 since 2005.

An 11-0 run by Liberty in the opening minutes sent the Flames out to a 13-4 lead, and after Oregon State got back within 20-19 after back-to-back 3-pointers by Jasmine Simmons and Destiny Slocum, the Flames took off on another spurt.

This time, it was a 9-0 burst to rebuild a 29-19 lead, and the margin remained nine before Oregon State scored the final four of the second quarter to get within 30-25 at the break.

BIG PICTURE

Liberty: Bridgette Rettstatt scored 12 and Emily Lytle came off the bench to score 10 points and grab 10 rebounds for the Flames. ... Combined, the two coaches walked off the floor with 958 wins - Liberty's Carey Green is 458-190 in his 21 years with the Flames.

Oregon State: The tone for a struggle was set early, when the Beavers missed 12 of their first 14 shots. ... Oregon State was just 6 for 27 from 3-point range.

FLORIDA BOUND

This was the first of at least three trips to the state of Florida this season for Liberty. The Flames visit Florida Gulf Coast on Jan. 6, then face Stetson and North Florida - like FGCU, also Atlantic Sun Conference opponents - on Jan. 25 and 27.

UP NEXT

Liberty: Hosts East Carolina on Tuesday.

Oregon State: Hosts Hawaii on Friday.

---

More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25