The strong start to the season continued Friday night for the Oregon State men's basketball team with a 96-68 win over the visiting Cal Baptist Lancers.

Legend Smiley led the Beavers in scoring with 21 points, though several members of the team delivered strong, all-around performances. Josiah Lake scored 15 points, grabbed four rebounds, with four assists and three steals. Deshawn Gory delivered 18 points, four rebounds, and three assists. Xavion Staton scored eight points with six rebounds, five assists, and a block.

Gory opened the game perfect from the floor, making his first six field goal attempts for a quick 14 points. The Beavers managed a 27-19 lead at the under-12 timeout, partially thanks to five makes on ten attempts from three-point range. However, the Beavs then fell into something of a cold streak, going scoreless for roughly two and a half minutes before Legend Smiley got them back on the board.

Both teams had reached the bonus by the 4:09 mark, as both teams seemed to trade baskets and blows in the final minutes of the half. Just before the two-minute media timeout, Xavion Staton threw down an impressive alley-oop dunk on a feed from Gory to excite the crowd at Gill.

Staton finished the half with six points, four boards, two assists, and a block as the Beavers took a 44-34 lead into the break.

Oregon State's momentum continued in the second half, as the Beavers stretched their lead to 15 points at the first media timeout. Cal Baptist looked to be clawing their way back as they cut the lead to nine points with 11:48 remaining, but OSU hit back-to-back threes to reclaim control of the game's flow.

Through the remainder of the second half, Cal Baptist managed to put together a few more successful possessions, including a 7-0 scoring run with seven minutes left. Ultimately, however, the Beaver lead would balloon to 31 points inside the final two minutes. Oregon State finished the game with 12 makes from three-point range.

The Beavers' win moves them to 2-0 this season. The season continues for Oregon State on Monday, November 9 as they host the Eastern Washington Eagles at 6:30 PM PT. That contest is also scheduled to be broadcast on the Pac-12's official YouTube channel.

About State of the Beavs

Each week, veteran sports broadcaster and writer Matt Bagley examines the news and storylines at play for Oregon State University Athletics. Occasionally joined by contributors for On SI's coverage of the Beavers, as well as the occasional guest spot from Beavers past, present, and future. Get caught up with the playlist below. New episodes are typically released on Tuesday mornings.

Want to interact with the show? Talk to Matt: mbagleyradio@gmail.com

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