Tinkle scores 20 as Oregon State beats No. 24 Arizona 82-65
CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) — Oregon State used a big second half to pull away with a big win against No. 24 Arizona.
'Tres Tinkle scored 20 points and the Beavers beat the Wildcats 82-65 on Sunday night. The senior forward also had six rebounds, seven assists and three steals.
Ethan Thompson had 18 points and eight assists for Oregon State (12-4, 2-2 Pac-12).
“Just showing what we’re capable of doing when we’re locked in,” Tinkle said.
Oregon State was certainly locked in during the second half, outscoring the Wildcats 51-34.
Zeke Nnaji had 21 points and nine rebound to lead Arizona (11-5, 1-2), and Jemari Baker scored 10 points.
After Nnaji made two free throws to tie the score at 49-all with 12:05 left in the second half, Oregon State took over and outscored Arizona 33-16 the rest of the way.
Alfred Hollins' 3-pointer culminated a 7-0 run and gave Oregon State a 56-49 lead with 10:17 remaining. The Beavers extended the lead to 70-56 on Kylor Kelley’s dunk with 4:45 left and led by as much as 20.
It was a dominant second-half performance from the Beavers, who were coming off an 82-76 loss to Arizona State.
“They were outstanding in the second half and we really couldn’t guard ‘em,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said of the Beavers. “So much of it was just, I’d use the word outclassed. We just weren’t able to match up with the players that they had.”
Arizona, which lost at No. 9 Oregon in overtime on Thursday, remained winless on the road this season.
Kelley, who leads the nation in blocked shots, had 13 points, six boards and two blocks.
“Big-time win in a big-time bounce-back situation for us,” Oregon State coach Wayne Tinkle said. “We’re excited about tonight’s performance and we’re moving forward.”
Oregon State had an early eight-point advantage, but Arizona regained the lead at 28-26 late in the first half on an 8-0 run culminated by Max Hazzard’s 3-pointer.
The score was tied 31-31 at halftime, and Arizona hit just 34.5 percent of its field goal attempts after the break.
BIG PICTURE
Oregon State: The Beavers received a boost from Hollins, who scored 12 points after failing to reach double figures in his previous eight games. ... Tinkle extended his double-figure scoring streak to 81 games, the second-longest streak in school history. He also moved past Mel Counts for third-place on Oregon State’s all-time scoring list with 1,979 points.
Arizona: The Wildcats, who had won eight games in a row against Oregon State, fell to 0-3 on the road this season. .., Nnaji came into the game shooting 67.2 percent from the field to rank sixth nationally. He was eight of 14 from the field against Oregon State.
UP NEXT
Oregon State will visit Washington on Thursday.
Arizona will host Utah on Thursday.