CORVALLIS - It was supposed to be another tuneup, but the knocks-and-pings were overpowering.

After running rough early, the Oregon State men's basketball team made the necessary adjustments to finish Monday's game with a win, but long-term problems remain.

The Beavers eventually put away pesky Western Oregon

71-58 in a nonconference game in Gill Coliseum before an intimate crowd of 2,189.

"It wasn't a very good effort," coach Jay John said. "We tried to ensure to get the guys in the game who would provide energy. The team did not get better. I thought we were lethargic to start the game. There's no question about it."

The Beavers (6-4) may have looked at the NCAA Division II team and figured it would be an easy win, but the Wolves (1-3) were within nine points with less than three minutes left in the game.

They led by four nine minutes into the contest, and made several runs on OSU. Their zone defense gave the Beavers trouble, which led to the off night offensively.

"I'm not a mind reader," John said of his team underestimating the opponent. "It would be easy to be cynical and read what was on their minds. It just was not a good effort. Whatever it was, guys have to come to play."

John was so disgusted with the performance he didn't allow his players to talk to the media after the game to find out what was on their minds.

The Beavers shot only 38 percent from the floor. Many of the misses were from in close. OSU won because the Wolves turned the ball over 25 times, which led to 35 OSU points.

"We missed a number of layups," John said. "My feeling is that if guys miss layups and are slow to rebound, they are not ready to play. At this point, it's not a comfortable shooting team. And that's where the zone was effective - missed layups and we didn't shoot well from the 3-point line. One thing that is positive is shooting can get better, and it certainly needs to."

Sasa Cuic quietly led OSU with 17 points and six rebounds. Jack McGillis scored the timely buckets, finishing with 15 points.

Marcel Jones, the team's leading scorer, played only 14 minutes and contributed four points. He sprained his left ankle in warm-ups and it bothered him in the game.

It was originally injured on Saturday during the tipoff of the Bethune-Cookman game. He played through that game with no problem.

Another positive was playing 11 players, nine for a significant period. The bench scored 32 of the points.

John worked one of his young big men, Roeland Schaftenaar, a solid 11 minutes. Inside depth could be an issue when Pacific-10 Conference play begins on Dec. 30.

By Cliff Kirkpatrick

For the Democrat-Herald