CORVALLIS - Ready or not, the regular season is next.

And those games will count.

That's why it was important for the Oregon State men's basketball team to get all the kinks out in Saturday's 75-55 exhibition win over Western Oregon University before 2,047 fans at Gill Coliseum.

There were plenty of kinks.

Despite the decisive final score, the Beavers too often seemed out of sync on offense. The open man was too often missed and shot selection suffered.

The Beavers were 2-for-11 from the 3-point line and missed eight free throws out of 19 tries.

"We could have executed a little better on offense," OSU forward Omari Johnson said. "All-in-all it was an all right offensive display, but we should have made more 3s or taken less, either one."

Signs of the struggle to come were evident in the first half, but were masked by the Beavers' defensive play.

OSU had seven steals, forced 11 turnovers and held WOU to 7 of 30 shooting from the field to go into halftime with a 38-19 lead.

Instead of pulling away for a rout, the Beavers found themselves in a battle when the Wolves cut a 57-38 lead to 58-49 with 9 minutes, 53 seconds left. OSU coach Craig Robinson called a rare timeout and the Beavers were able to stem the tide.

It was exactly the tough time Robinson wanted his team to experience.

Robinson said he wanted to make the game as stressful as possible to give the Beavers a taste of a rough road to a win. Winning games by huge margins such as last week's 94-53 dismantling of Southern Oregon don't always go a long way toward getting a team ready for Pacific-10 Conference-level competition.

So Robinson let the Beavers go in and figure out the Wolves without a scouting report. He played different combinations of players throughout the game to see how they would react.

He also resisted calling timeouts to put added pressure on his players.

"We want to have a team that has a lot of depth," Robinson said. "And in order to do that, you've got to get some of those younger guys and the guys who didn't play much last year into games and in situations like that to see if they can handle it."

Although the lessons might have been learned, the Beavers were not overly pleased with their play. They knew they are capable of much more on both ends of the court.

There was no joking around after the game.

"You know you're making progress when you have a locker room as quiet as that and you've won by 20," Robinson said. "So that's good for us."

OSU guard Calvin Haynes said the game could have gone either way for the Beavers if they were playing a Division I team.

"We didn't play up to our abilities today," Haynes said. "We didn't play how we played last game and how we know we can actually play. But we're looking to get better every day and Monday (we'll) come back with a new attitude, ready to go."

Oregon State 75, Western Oregon 55

Western Oregon (55): Matt Schmidt 4-17 2-2 11, Rico Myles 1-2 1-2 3, Mike McLaughlin 2-3, 2-2 7, Blair Wheadon 3-11, 3-5 10, Kyle Long 2-10, 0-0 6, Marcus Harris 2-4 0-0 5, Josh Johnson 3-9 1-1 7, Alex Bourne 0-1 0-0 0, Jesse Chippoletti 0-3 0-0 0, Kolton Nelson 2-5 0-0 4, Gabe Thrash 1-2 0-0 2, Zach Davis 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 20-67 9-12 55

Oregon State (75): Seth Tarver 8-9 1-2 17, Omari Johnson 6-9 0-2 12, Roeland Schaftenaar 2-9 3-4 7, Josh Tarver 1-5 0-1 2, Calvin Haynes 6-11 2-2 15, Kevin McShane 0-0 0-0 0, Jared Cunningham 1-6 1-2 3, Calvin Hampton 1-2 0-0 2, Chris Richard 0-0 0-0 0, David Sturner 0-0 0-0 0, Joe Burton 2-3 0-0 4, Angus Brandt 1-3 2-2 4, Daniel Deane 1-3, 1-2 3, Lathen Wallace 2-3, 1-2 6. Totals: 31-63 11-19 75

3-point goals: WOU 6-27 (Schmidt 1-8, McLaughlin 1-2, Wheadon 1-7, Long 2-6, Harris 1-3, Chippoletti 0-1). OSU 2-11 (S. Tarver 0-1, Johnson 0-2, J. Tarver 0-1, Haynes 1-2, Cunningham 0-1, Brandt 0-1, Deane 0-1). Rebounds: WOU 39 (McLaughlin 7). OSU 45 (Cunningham 7). Fouls: WOU 16. OSU 18. Assists: WOU 9 (Wheadon 3). OSU 15 (S. Tarver 5). Turnovers: WOU 15. OSU 14. Blocks: WOU 1. OSU 6. Steals: WOU 6. OSU 9 (S. Tarver 4). Technical fouls: Schmidt (WOU), J. Tarver (OSU). Att.: 2,044