Oregon State leaned on its defense Friday night to pull out a 60-43 win over Florida A&M at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis.
The Beavers held Florida A&M to 31% shooting (15 of 48) while forcing 17 turnovers. The 43 points ties for the second-lowest point total yielded by an OSU team during coach Wayne Tinkle’s nine-year tenure.
Dexter Akanno scored all his points during the second half, leading the Beavers with 15. Jordan Pope scored 14, while Rodrigue Andela had 10.
Oregon State (2-0) had a tough shooting night, hitting 22 of 54 from the floor. But the Beavers improved during the second half, hitting 13 of 25.
Neither team was a threat from three-point range, as OSU hit four and Florida A&M three.
Oregon State never trailed, but had a difficult time pulling away from Florida A&M, which lost one-sided games to Oregon and Portland earlier this week. Pope hit back-to-back three-pointers to stake OSU to a 10-4 lead five minutes into the game. But it was rough from there, as the Beavers scored only six points during the next eight minutes.
The Rattlers got as close as three points late in the first half. Oregon State led 22-17 at halftime.
Akanno, blanked in the first half, didn’t waste time coming out of the locker room, dunking eight seconds into the second half. Akanno scored 12 of OSU’s first 13 points after halftime to help the Beavers built a 35-24 lead.
From there, Oregon State never led by less than double digits, taking a lead as large as 18 points late in the second half.
Jordan Tillmon led Florida A&M (0-3) with 12 points. Chase Barr had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Oregon State returns to action at 8 p.m. Tuesday when the Beavers play Bushnell at Gill.
— Nick Daschel | ndaschel@oregonian.com | @nickdaschel
