Pac-12 basketball: California holds on to upset No. 12 Arizona, 74-73

Arizona’s Gabe York dribbled off his foot, then drove to the basket and missed a contested shot in the waning seconds, and California held on behind Jordan Mathews to defeat the No. 12 Wildcats, 74-73, in a Pac-12 Conference game Saturday night at Berkeley.

Mathews converted an off-balance layin under pressure with 1 minute 13 seconds to play and finished with a season-best 28 points. Cal (14-6, 4-3 Pac-12) remained unbeaten this season at Haas Pavilion, where students from the sellout crowd of 11,858 rushed the court after the final buzzer.

York’s three-pointer with 54.6 seconds left pulled Arizona (16-4, 4-3) within two, then Kadeem Allen’s layup the next time down tied the score at 73 with 39.3 seconds to play.

Jaylen Brown made the second of two free throws with 18.4 seconds left for Cal, leaving Arizona with one last chance to win it. But the Wildcats failed to collect Coach Sean Miller’s 300th career victory in his first try.

Colorado 75, at Washington State 70: George King scored 22 points and Josh Scott had 11 points and eight rebounds to lead the Buffaloes (15-5, 4-3 Pac-12) past the slumping Cougars (9-10, 1-6) at Pullman, Wash.

Ike Iroegbu led Washington State with 27 points. Conor Clifford matched his season bests of 18 points and five rebounds. The Cougars have lost five consecutive games.

Iroegbu, who led the Pac-12 in three-point shooting percentage before Saturday, scored most of his points on aggressive drives to the basket. The 6-foot-2 guard took just three shots from three-point range, making one, before shooting an air ball with the 6-10 Scott guarding him that would have tied the score at 73-73 with approximately four seconds left to play. Colorado led, 39-32, at halftime.