March 31, 2009
Contact: gazelle@gazellegroup.com, 609-921-1300

CBI FINALS: OREGON STATE TAKES 1-0 SERIES LEAD
Beavers Beat UTEP, 75-69; Game #2 In El Paso On Wednesday

(Princeton, NJ) - The Oregon State Beavers started the second half with a 17-2 run en route to a 75-69 win over the UTEP Miners in Game #1 of the College Basketball Invitational Championship Series. Oregon State, with a 1-0 lead in the "Best of Three" series, heads to El Paso, TX for Game #2 on Wednesday and (if necessary) Game #3 on Friday.

HDNet is televising each game of the Championship Series beginning at 10:00 PM ET.

---- CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES----

Click HERE for a complete 2009 CBI bracket.

Click HERE for the CBI Tournament website.

Oregon State (17-17)

- Defeated Houston, Vermont and Stanford to make the finals, with the wins against Vermont & Stanford coming in overtime.

- Oregon State has won their four games in the CBI Tournament by a total of 14 points.

- The Beavers offense has been very efficient in the last three victories, shooting 53.3% from the field (44% from three-point range) in that period.

- Roeland Schaftenaar leads Oregon State in scoring during the tournament (13.3 ppg).

UTEP (22-13)

- Beat Nevada, Northeastern and Richmond to make it to the title series.

- Their wins have been by an average of 7.7 points and the Miners are the second highest scoring team in this year's tournament (76.0).

- Guard Stefon Jackson is averaging 25.8 points per game in the tournament, including 34 points in their semifinal win over Richmond.

- Off the bench, guard Randy Culpepper has added an average of 19.0 points per game.

UTEP vs. Oregon State

- Wednesday's game will be just the fourth all-time meeting between UTEP and Oregon State. Oregon State now leads the series, 2-1. During the 1985-86 season, the Miners, then ranked #19 in the country, went into Corvallis and knocked off the Beavers, 64-49. The next season, the Beavers won at El Paso in the first game of the season by an 83-72 score.

- When these two teams met at the start of the 1986 season, two future NBA superstars were playing. Future nine-time NBA All Star Gary Payton was in uniform for Oregon State, while future five-time NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway was playing for UTEP.

- This is the first time that Oregon State has won four games during a postseason run. The is also the first time that Oregon State has played a game during the month of April. It is the latest game that Oregon State has played since the 1948-49 season when the Beavers made it to the NCAA "Final Four" in Seattle, Wash.

- The last time that UTEP won more than two post-season games was 1966 when UTEP (then Texas Western College) won the NCAA Title, beating Kentucky in the championship game. That team, coached by Don Haskins, was the first NCAA team to start five African-Americans. Their story was later brought to the 'big screen' in the movie Glory Road.

Conference USA vs. Pac-10

- The Pac-10 has a 4-1 record against C-USA during the 2008-09 campaign, including Oregon State wins over Houston and UTEP. The lone win by C-USA is from UAB, who beat Arizona by a 72-71 score.

By The Numbers

8,812: Wichita State fans in attendance for their Quarterfinal Round game against Stanford... the second largest crowd to date in the history of the CBI Tournament.

8,029: Oregon State fans at Game #1 of the CBI Championship Series against UTEP. It is the fourth largest crowd in CBI history and the second largest crowd of the season for Oregon State.

324: Total wins by CBI teams throughout the 2008-09 season... an average of 20.2 per team.

103: Total points scored by UTEP's Stefon Jackson, who is in line to break the CBI record for most points in a tournament, shared by Bradley's Jeremy Crouch and Tulsa's Ben Uzoh (104).

13.0: Average margin of victory in the NCAA Tournament.

9.2: Average margin of victory in the NIT.

7.2: Average margin of victory in the CBI.

4: Times that a play from the 2009 College Basketball Invitational was part of ESPN's Top 10 Plays, including UTEP's Randy Culpepper voted #1 for his dunk against Richmond in the CBI semifinals.

2: Games left to decide the 2009 CBI Championship.

The Gazelle Group is a sports marketing firm, specializing in event production and management, client representation and sponsorship consulting. Gazelle produces numerous nationally recognized events, such as the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic and the Legends Classic. For more information on the Gazelle Group, please visit www.gazellegroup.com.