CORVALLIS, Ore. " Roeland Schaftenaar had 19 points and six assists and Oregon State nearly blew a 21-point lead before holding on for a 75-69 win against Texas-El Paso in the opening game of the College Basketball Invitational's best-of-three championship series.
Randy Culpepper scored 20 points to lead UTEP (22-13).
The second game of the series is Wednesday at UTEP. The third game, if necessary, will be Friday, also in El Paso.
The Beavers (17-17) opened the second half with a 17-2 run to go ahead 52-31. The Miners narrowed it to three points late in the game.