Beavers beat Hofstra behind Cunningham’s 35

According to Oregon State head coach Craig Robinson, Hofstra University woke a sleeping giant in Jared Cunningham Wednesday night at Gill Coliseum.

Ill-advised move.

Cunningham erupted for a career-high 35 points and paced Oregon State to an 82-72 victory in front of a crowd of 3,870.

"Jared was having a sluggish day until they started really pressuring him and they got him going, and he decided he was going to take the game over and make sure we weren't going to lose," Robinson said.

Oregon State (3-0) cruised to 33 and 24 point victories in its first two games, but it became apparent in the early stages of Wednesday night's contest that Hofstra would present much more of a challenge than Cal State Bakersfield or West Alabama.

But it was a challenge that Cunningham and company was up for.

Cunningham, whose previous career-high was 24, was 11-for-16 from the field and made 12 free throws.

The fact that the junior guard was able to "put [Oregon State] on his shoulders," is a welcoming sign for a program that hasn't produced many prolific scorers of late.

"He's really playing assertively," Robinson said. "He's playing like an All-Pac-12 player right now."

Cunningham wasn't the only Beaver to play assertively Wednesday.

Sophomore forward Devon Collier, who has almost brought the basket down on several occasions already this year, scored a career-high 25 points.

"You take Jared out of the equation and you can say Devon [took over the game] as well," Robinson said.

Cunningham and Collier combined to shoot 20-for-28 from the field, while the rest of the team collectively went 7-for-24.

Junior Joe Burton did his fair share of damage in other areas (10 rebounds, 11 assists), but one can imagine what Oregon State's capable of if the rest of the supporting cast finds its offensive grove.

"Ahmad [Starks] can light it up, so can Roberto [Nelson]," Cunningham said. "Today their game was a little bit off, but in the future, look for them to put more shots up and score the ball, too."

Starks was 0-for-3 from three-point territory. Nelson was 1-for-4, though the one he did make — a 25-footer to give Oregon State a five-point advantage with just over five minutes to play — was crucial.

Hofstra never got closer than four from that point forward.

The contest had the look of a game the Beavers may have lost in the past. Cunningham wouldn't go that far, but he did admit the Beavers finished better than they've been known to finish.

"Wouldn't say we would have lost this game last year, but some of the buckets and free throws we made down the stretch wouldn't have went down in the past," Cunningham said.

Robinson was more than pleased with his guys' performance against a Hofstra team that finished second in the Colonial Athletic Association a year ago.

"This was by far, maybe even since I've been here, the gutsiest win I've seen from one of our teams," Robinson said. "A bunch of really good basketball players from New York City tried to come in here and steal one from ya, and you take a punch in the mouth and give a little one back and come out with a win."

Undefeated through three games for the first time since 2000, the Beavers will now head to East Rutherford, New Jersey, where they'll face the University of Texas Saturday and either North Carolina State University or Vanderbilt University Monday.

"Let's go take our bike out," said Robinson, "and test it against the other kids down the street."

Grady Garrett, sports editor

sports@dailybarometer.com