PACIFIC 10 ROUNDUP : Oregon St. Remains Unbeaten in Conference

Oregon State Coach Jim Anderson says his team handled the spotlight well after taking over sole possession of the Pacific 10 Conference basketball lead.

The 18th-ranked Beavers kept their unbeaten conference record intact Saturday, beating Washington, 70-63.

They took over sole possession of the Pac-10 lead Thursday night by beating Washington State, 79-64, while UCLA was losing, 87-79, to Stanford.

The victory was Oregon State’s ninth in a row and improved its Pac-10 record to 7-0. The Beavers are 14-2 overall. Washington is 2-6 and 8-9.

“It was a very strategic win for us because of the change in the standings last week,” Anderson said after the Beavers made 16 of 19 free throws down the stretch.

“The key to the win was hitting the free throws in the second half,” said Anderson, who took over this year from Ralph Miller.

Gary Payton scored 15 points, grabbed seven rebounds and had eight assists to lead the Beavers. They led, 33-26, at halftime, but Washington used a 14-3 run to take a 40-39 lead with 12:19 left in the game on a three-point basket by Eldridge Recasner.

Washington pulled to within 61-58 on another three-point shot by Recasner with 2:11 left, but Payton and reserve Bob Cavell made free throws to clinch the win.

Washington outrebounded Oregon State, 37-31, including 17-7 on the offensive end. But the Huskies shot 37% to the Beavers’ 49%.

Recasner and Dion Brown both scored 18 points to lead Washington.

Arizona State 62, Miami 58--Alex Austin hit seven three-point shots and scored 27 points as the Sun Devils gave Coach Bill Frieder his 200th victory in a nonconference game at Miami.

The Sun Devils’ first-year coach improved to 200-94 in 10 seasons. Arizona State broke a three-game losing streak and improved to 9-7. Miami is 6-8.

“I’m happy to get it,” Frieder said. “But I think more important than that was Arizona State breaking a three-game losing streak.

“If I was really concerned about 200, I would’ve stayed at Michigan and gotten it about six weeks ago.”

The Hurricanes, who had trouble solving Arizona State’s zone, hit just one field goal during an eight-minute second-half stretch. The Sun Devils took advantage with a 16-3 run capped by two three-pointers by Austin that put them ahead, 50-43.