Aggies Start Slow, But Use Second-Half Surge in Win vs. Oregon State
The Texas A&M Aggies had some early-season nightmares during their first Pac-12 matchup of the campaign.
But a 103-75 loss to the Colorado Buffaloes on Nov. 18 seemed to hardly remain in A&M's mind headed into Sunday's meeting at Reed Arena with the Oregon State Beavers, another Pac-12 opponent.
The Aggies (6-3) started slow, but surged in the second half en route to a convincing 72-54 win over Oregon State (4-6).
A&M was led by Dexter Dennis (16 points, four rebounds), Tyrece Radford (12 points, seven rebounds) and a high-energy effort from Manny Obaseki (11 points).
Oregon State had a two-man wrecking crew of Jordan Pope (15 points, five assists) and Dzmitry Ryuny (13 points, six rebounds and four assists), but this wasn't enough for the Beavers, who had just nine bench points compared to 24 for A&M.
The game turned into an early 3-point party on the first four possessions, as Dennis and Taylor both hit from deep while while Dexter Akanno made one as well.
But this production was not sustainable, as both teams began to slow up. Solomon Washington did manage to hit another 3 for the Aggies and added two points at the rim, but both sides then went nearly three minutes without a basket.
Still, it was eight straight points for the Beavers from Pope that cut into an eight-point deficit. Ryuny then tied things up at 22-22, forcing a frustrated Buzz Williams to call timeout for the Aggies.
The timeout hardly helped stop momentum, as Ryuny then nailed back-to-back 3s for eight straight points of his own, as Oregon State had high-fives all around as the Beavers headed into the locker room with a 30-26 lead.
Luckily for A&M, Radford -- and frankly, the rest of the Aggies -- seemed to have gotten a much-needed rest at halftime. Radford was scoreless through the first 20 minutes but came out in the second half and hit back-to-back 3s along with a pair of free throws for eight quick points.
He then set up Dennis for a 3 of his own before hitting a second on the very next possession. A sudden avalanche from the Aggies had them in front 44-35.
After a breakaway dunk and putback and-one a few minutes later from Obaseki, the Aggies were on a 27-8 run to begin the second half.
Radford added his third 3 of the half to balloon the lead to 16, as the Aggies were officially rolling.
A run from the Beavers eventually came, as they cut a 20-point lead to 13. But the A&M pressure remained steady, as the Aggies cruised to a double-digit win.
A&M will visit the Memphis Tigers on Saturday.
You can follow Zach Dimmitt on Twitter at @ZachDimmitt7
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