What’s a Senior Night without any seniors? Oregon State Coach Wayne Tinkle figured out a way around that problem Wednesday night, starting five walk-ons in his team’s final home game of the season against rival Oregon.
Tinkle trotted out junior Justin Stangel, sophomore AJ Hedgecock and freshmen Matt Dahlen, Tanner Sanders and Dylan Livesay for tip-off of Wednesday’s game. All five might not be on the roster next season because of the strong recruiting class Oregon State expects to have, the Associated Press reports.
The five non-scholarship players lasted for 28 seconds as Oregon State fell behind 3-0.
“I was thinking about having no seniors to celebrate what would normally be “Senior Night” and I wanted to honor something for this team,” Tinkle told ESPN.com’s Jeff Goodman in a text message. “It hit me right away: Honor the walk-ons from Oregon that have been such a big part of our season.
“Knowing what I now know, I’d do it all again. One of my proudest moments as a coach!”
The Beavers’ usual starters didn’t fare much better as Oregon extended its lead to 8-0, and the Ducks ended up winning, 65-62, in the latest rendition of the most-played rivalry in college basketball (344 games and counting).
After spending the first 17 years of his Post career writing and editing, Matt and the printed paper had an amicable divorce in 2014. He's now blogging and editing for the Early Lead and the Post's other Web-based products.
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