WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama may have won, but his brother-in-law came up short in his trip to Washington in his debut game as Oregon State coach.

Craig Robinson, brother of Obama’s wife Michelle, and the Beavers fell 47-45 to Howard in the season opener for both teams on Friday night. He accepted the extra attention but cringed at the score.

“It was a treat to be here, except for the outcome,” said Robinson. “I just haven’t had time to really think about it. Having been out on the campaign trail for 20 months with them, I’m used to the hoopla and hype that they get. I’m fine, as long as it doesn’t interfere with my guys’ college experience.”

Robinson comes from Brown to inherit a team that lost its last 19 games, went winless in the Pac-10 and finished 6-25 last season.

A couple dozen fans — including a few wearing Obama memorabilia — rushed the Howard bench after one of the school’s biggest wins in recent memory.

“Did they swarm the court?” asked Howard coach Gil Jackson. “I’ve never seen that. They’re swarming the court at Howard, at the Burr (Gym). That’s what we want to do.”

Trailing by as many as eight points, Oregon State cut it to 46-45 on two free throws by Seth Tarver. But Daniel Deane was called for traveling with 10 seconds left in the game. Howard’s Eugene Myatt hit one of two free throws and Dean’s runner rimmed out at the buzzer.

Myatt and Curtis White each led Howard with 13 points, on a night where the Bison made nine 3-pointers.

Tarver scored 10 points for the Beavers, who held Howard to 9-for-29 shooting from 3-point range but shot only 4 of 17 there themselves.

“It won’t take me 20 months to turn this program around” Robinson said. “It’s going to take longer than that. This is differrent. We have to recruit some better players, we have to get better at what we’re doing, and we have to change the culture from losing to winning.”

Oregon 66, Northern Colorado 64

EUGENE — LeKendric Longmire scored 15 points to lead Oregon to a 66-64 season-opening win against Northern Colorado on Friday night.

Michael Dunigan, one of six Oregon freshmen, finished with 13 points and seven rebounds for the Ducks.

Jefferson Mason scored 15 for the Bears, who shot just 35.5 from the field and turned the ball over 20 times. Robert Palacios added six points and 11 rebounds.

In the second half, Dunigan took over. The 6-foot-10 center played well inside, scoring six points the first 10 minutes of the  half on an easy layup, two free throws and a dunk off a pass from Tajuan Porter that put the Ducks up 43-42.

Oregon used a 16-3 run to take a 61-49 lead with 6:45 to go, highlighted by a fast-break dunk from Longmire.

With Oregon up 66-63, Kamyron Brown fouled Yahosh Bonner with 1.9 seconds on the clock while shooting a 3-pointer. After hitting the first of three free throws, Bonner missed the second, and intentionally missed the third. Dunnigan rebounded the miss to seal the victory.