CORVALLIS - The good news for the Oregon State men's basketball team is they won't have to worry about the pressure of high expectations .

At least for the time being.

The Beavers left 4,316 fans quiet, disheartened and a little puzzled as they filed out of Gill Coliseum after watching a comeback attempt fall short in a 65-63 loss to Sacramento State on Saturday.

The Beavers seemed to be headed in the right direction after a disastrous start to the Duel in the Desert tournament, losing 67-43 to Texas A&M Corpus Christi. They came back for a win over South Dakota and then took host team Texas Tech to the wire before losing by four.

A home game against the Hornets, a team out of the Big Sky Conference that finished 2-27 last year, looked to be a good early-season tune-up for the Beavers as they sort through their roster and prepare for the Pacific-10 Conference season.

Instead, the Hornets came out and went on the attack. The Beavers held a 17-16 lead with 10:36 left when the Hornets went on a scoring spree, knocking down nine 3-pointers and outscoring the Beavers 28-5 as Sultan Toles-Bey hit three 3s in the final 3:51, including a deep shot with eight seconds left in the half.

Just like that, the Beavers were in a 22-point hole at home to Sacramento State.

"The way we came out at the beginning of that game was completely embarrassing," OSU coach Craig Robinson said. "I'll take the blame for not having them prepared. We were not prepared as a team emotionally for this game and that's on me. I have to figure out a way to motivate these guys so that at the beginning of a game they realize it's a real game."

Robinson said he was not sure what factors were involved in the Beavers slow start, other than the Hornets' strong play and shot-making.

"I'm going to have to take a hard look at the tape to see if there's anything specifically that I can point to," Robinson said. "It really felt like to me, and I think I've been doing this long enough to be able to tell just sort of off the back of the envelope, that our effort is not there. I don't think we understand how hard it is to play Division I basketball."

The Beavers had to claw their way back from a 22-point halftime deficit just to have a shot at the win.

Robinson shook up the lineup a little and it worked. The Beavers outscored Sacramento State 41-21 in the second half.

Lathen Wallace stepped in and scored all of his eight points in the second half. Freshman forward Joe Burton played 12 of his 14 minutes after halftime and finished with five points and eight rebounds.

"We played harder in the second half, but playing the second half the way we did after playing the first half we did is like kissing your sister," Robinson said. "It doesn't mean anything. It's like a nice gesture."

The Beavers shut down the Hornets' 3-point shooting, allowing one attempt in the second half.

"(We) just buckled down," Burton said. "Just focused on defense, defense and defense to get back in the ballgame."

The Beavers actually took the lead on a basket by Burton with 2:41 left to make it 60-58, but Toles-Bey hit a layup and two free throws and Justin Eller hit a put-back for a 64-60 Sac State lead with 29 seconds left.

Calvin Haynes hit one of two free throws to make it 65-63 and the Beavers forced a jump ball on the scramble for the rebound to regain possession. But Haynes missed a jumper and the Beavers could not get another shot off.

"It hurts, yeah," Burton said. "We worked so hard to get back in it. But first half wasn't that great. We got down by (22) in the first half. We can't be doing that if we want to beat teams. Coming back from behind is a good thing, but not good to say you're down by 20 at halftime. You should be up the whole game and get the win."

SACRAMENTO ST. 65, OREGON ST. 63

SACRAMENTO STATE: Dickson 3-9 0-0 7, Selling 3-5 0-0 6, Marcial 1-3 2-2 5, Toles-Bey 5-16 4-4 17, Flaggs 3-8 1-2 10, Norris 0-1 0-0 0, Stigall 0-1 0-0 0, Lopez 0-0 0-0 0, Daniel 3-7 0-0 7, Bjegovic 0-0 1-2 1, Eller 5-8 2-2 12. Totals 23-58 10-12 65.

OREGON STATE: Johnson 2-6 0-0 5, Schaftenaar 1-5 0-2 2, J.Tarver 3-4 0-0 6, S.Tarver 6-12 1-2 14, Haynes 3-12 4-5 11, Cunningham 2-3 2-2 6, Hampton 3-5 0-0 6, Burton 2-6 1-2 5, Brandt 0-2 0-0 0, Deane 0-1 0-0 0, Wallace 3-4 1-2 8. Totals 25-60 9-15 63.

Halftime-Sacramento St. 44-22. 3-Point Goals-Sacramento St. 9-16 (Flaggs 3-5, Toles-Bey 3-6, Daniel 1-1, Marcial 1-1, Dickson 1-2, Stigall 0-1), Oregon St. 4-15 (Wallace 1-2, Haynes 1-3, Johnson 1-3, S.Tarver 1-4, Schaftenaar 0-1, Brandt 0-2). Fouled Out-None. Rebounds-Sacramento St. 39 (Selling 10), Oregon St. 37 (S.Tarver 10). Assists-Sacramento St. 12 (Marcial 5), Oregon St. 13 (J.Tarver 4). Total Fouls-Sacramento St. 17, Oregon St. 15. A-4,316.