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Illinois-Chicago stuns Oregon State 63-61

Dec 17, 2009 - 3:38 AM CHICAGO(AP) -- Six-footer Robo Kreps scored on a drive to the basket over 6-foot-11 center Roeland Schaftenaar with 5.6 seconds to play Wednesday night, rallying Illinois-Chicago to a 63-61 upset over Oregon State.

Kreps finished with 19 points and Zavion Neely added 13 for UIC (2-6), which had lost its previous six games by an average of 14.2 points and had previously beaten only Division II Illinois-Springfield.

Schaftenaar's layup gave Oregon State a 61-58 lead with 50.9 seconds left. After Brad Birton's basket pulled the Flames within a point, the Beavers (4-5) threw away the inbounds pass with 21.8 seconds to go.

Kreps then spotted an opening on the right side, drove in against Schaftenaar and scored for a 62-61 lead. Josh Tarver's inbounds pass was intercepted by Neely, who made one of two free throws. Birton picked off Tarver's next inbounds pass to seal the victory.

It was the third humiliating loss this season for Oregon State (4-5), which opened the season with a 24-point loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and later dropped a home game to Sacramento State.

The loss ruined the return to Chicago for Oregon State coach Craig Robinson, President Barack Obama's brother-in-law. Two years ago, when he was coaching at Brown, Robinson led his team to a victory over Northwestern in suburban Evanston.

Robinson got to know Obama during pickup basketball games in Chicago some two decades ago, years before Obama married Robinson's sister, Michelle.

Seth Tarver scored seven of his 17 points during an 18-2 run that gave the Beavers an 18-8 lead, but they scored only two more baskets the rest of the half, and Illinois-Chicago went ahead 25-23 on Kreps' 17-foot jumper.

Jeremy Buttell scored five points and Neely four as the Flames opened a 40-35 lead with 13 minutes to play, but Calvin Haynes made a pair of 3-pointers to help the Beavers tie it at 45-45.

Daniel Deane's rebound basket capped an 8-0 surge that gave Oregon State a 57-50 lead with 3 minutes to play. UIC answered with an 8-2 run, with Kreps scoring six points, to cut the deficit to 59-58.