Pacific 10 Roundup : Arizona Slows Down to Beat Cal, 64-55

Sean Elliott and the No. 8 Arizona Wildcats came in fired up after losing at Stanford Thursday night, but they had to use a slowdown to escape a loss against California Saturday at Berkeley.

The Wildcats seemed on the verge of being upset team until they slowed the pace in the second half and took the heart out of Cal’s comeback bid with 3 consecutive 3-pointers by Elliott.

Elliott scored 24 points in Arizona’s 64-55 Pacific 10 Conference victory as the Golden Bears saw their 5-game winning streak end.

“We just wanted to control the tempo in the second half,” Elliott said. “We didn’t do that at Stanford. We lost our poise down there. So when the fans got going today, slowing down the game was the key for us.”

Elliott’s hot outside shooting in the second half enabled the Wildcats to break open the game, 55-41, after Cal had pulled to within 39-35 in the opening minutes of the period.

Anthony Cook scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Arizona. Leonard Taylor led Cal with 21 points and 10 rebounds.

Arizona is 9-2 overall and 4-1 in the Pac-10. Cal is 11-4 and 2-2.

Stanford 94, Arizona State 65--Howard Wright and Todd Lichti scored 19 points apiece to lead the Cardinal at Stanford.

Stanford (10-3 and 3-1) jumped to a 16-2 lead at the outset and was never headed. The Sun Devils (7-5 and 1-3) did not score their first basket until almost 3 minutes into the game.

The Cardinal led at at halftime, 42-25, and increased its lead to 33 points in the second half, led by the outside shooting of Lichti and the inside play of Wright. The Cardinal outrebounded Arizona State, 45-17.

“In the past, we have had letdowns after playing a great game,” Wright said. “Now when they come to Maples (Pavilion), we have to pound them into the ground. There’s too much parity in the league to have a letdown.”

Washington 69, Washington State 63--Junior guard Eldridge Recasner scored 18 points, including 2 free throws with 26 seconds remaining to help the Huskies preserve the victory at Pullman.

The win ended the Huskies’ 5-game losing streak and also a 3-game losing streak to the Cougars. It was Washington’s first Pac-10 victory of the season after 2 defeats.

Washington (4-6 overall), held a 57-41 lead late in the second half when the Cougars (6-6 and 1-2) mounted a comeback. Darryl Woods’ layup with 2:28 left capped a 13-2 run that brought Washington State to within 59-54. When Reco Rowe hit 2 free throws with 33 seconds remaining, the Cougars trailed by only 65-63.