Pacific 10 Roundup : Oregon State Takes Over Second Place With Win

Guard Gary Payton scored on a back-door layup with 19 seconds remaining to give Oregon State a come-from-behind 63-61 victory over Stanford Saturday in a Pacific 10 game at Stanford.

The win boosted the Beavers, 17-8 overall, into sole possession of second place in the Pac-10 with an 11-5 record. Stanford fell to 18-9 and 10-6.

Stanford guard Todd Lichti scored 14 consecutive points midway through the second half to give the Cardinal its first lead of the game at 52-49. But the Beavers fought back to go ahead, 60-59, with 2:42 left on a Payton layup.

Payton, who finished with a team-high 17 points, then hit a free throw to put the Beavers ahead, 61-59 with 2:17 remaining. But Stanford’s Howard Wright tied the score on a tip-in with 1:02 to play.

Oregon State ran the clock down before getting the back-door basket by Payton.

Stanford reserve forward Andrew Vlahov misfired on a driving layup with one second left.

Lichti led all scorers with 27 points, and teammate Howard Wright added 17.

Oregon State used no substitutions in the game.

“Why should they get tired?” Coach Ralph Miller said. “We practice two hours a day and we only play 40 minutes in a game, so it shouldn’t be too tough on them.”

Oregon State was outrebounded, 32-19. The Beavers’ tallest player is 6-foot 6-inch center Bill Sherwood.

Lichti’s 14-point run included three three-point baskets.

Arizona 101, Arizona St. 73--Steve Kerr scored 20 of his 22 points in the first half and was 6 for 6 on three-point shots in leading the No. 3 Wildcats over the Sun Devils at Tempe.

Anthony Cook added 18 points, and Sean Elliott 17 as the Wildcats (26-2, 15-1) won their sixth straight.

Kerr led the Wildcats to a 47-41 halftime lead. Torin Williams’ jumper with 19:25 left pulled the Sun Devils to 47-43, but Arizona went on a 25-8 run to lead, 72-51, with 12:52 left.

Tarence Wheeler scored 17 points for the Sun Devils (13-13, 6-10), who lost their sixth straight. Arthur Thomas scored 16 and Emory Lewis 15.

Oregon 62, California 56--Anthony Taylor scored a game-high 19 points, including a game-clinching slam dunk, to lead the Ducks (13-11, 9-7) over the Bears (5-11, 8-17) at Berkeley.

Cal played most of the game without leading scorer and rebounder Matt Beeuwsaert, who left the game with 7:04 left in the first half with a sprained arch.