Field Level Media
Dec 29, 2018
Tres Tinkle had 20 points and eight rebounds, Stephen Thompson Jr. had 17 points and the Oregon State Beavers used a 24-0 run in first half to roll to an 80-59 victory over the Central Connecticut Blue Devils in the final nonconference game for both in Corvallis, Ore., on Saturday.
Kylor Kelley had 14 points and eight rebounds and Ethan Thompson added 11 points and seven rebounds for the Beavers, who had lost three of their past four by a combined 10 points. They will open Pac-12 play at Oregon on Saturday.
Seven-footer Kelley made all six of his field goal attempts and had four blocked shots. He has at least two blocked shots in each of the last 12 games, a school record, and entered the game leading all Division I players with an average of 4.1 blocks per game.
Jamir Coleman had 16 points and seven rebounds and Karrington Wallace had nine points and six rebounds for the Blue Devils, who had won two of three around a loss to Providence. Tyler Kohl, who was averaging a team-high 19.3 points a game, had five points on 2-of-13 shooting.
Oregon State (8-4) led 50-21 at halftime after making 18 of 25 field goals -- a 72 percent shooting clip -- and never was challenged in the first meeting between the schools.
The Beavers cooled considerably and ended up shooting 49.0 percent from the field. They had a 47-28 rebounding advantage and made 25 of 29 attempts from the free throw line. Central Connecticut shot 32.8 percent after going 8-of-33 shooting in the first half.
Thompson Jr. regained his shooting touch after making only 1 of 16 field goal attempts in a 66-63 loss to Kent State on Dec. 21, the Beavers' previous game.
Thompson Jr. had eight points, Zach Reichle had a pair of 3-pointers and Tinkle and Kelley had four points apiece when the Beavers turned a 12-10 edge into a 36-10 lead with 5:52 remaining in the first half. The Blue Devils went 9:31 between field goals.
--Field Level Media