COLLEGE BASKETBALL PACIFIC 10 ROUNDUP : Arizona Improves and Wins

Arizona, which made only 34% of its shots in losing its Pacific 10 Conference opener to Washington, 70-56, Thursday night, improved to 56% and took advantage of Washington State’s poor shooting to defeat the Cougars, 84-69, Saturday at Pullman, Wash.

The fourth-ranked Wildcats overcame a 39-38 halftime deficit behind the shooting of forward Brian Williams and reserve guard Khalid Reeves. Williams scored 11 of his 18 points and Reeves had 11 of his 15 in the second half.

Arizona was trailing, 57-56, with about 10 minutes remaining when Reeves made a three-point basket to help the Wildcats (11-2 overall) take a 17-point lead with two minutes left.

Reserve Eddie Hill scored 20 points, keeping Washington State (8-3, 1-1) in the game by making six of seven three-point shots. Hill made 50% of his shots, but the rest of the Cougars shot only 28%.

After trailing by as many as eight points midway through the first half, the Cougars took a one-point halftime lead when Hill made his fourth three-point shot with 10 seconds left. It was the first time the Cougars led since taking a 2-0 lead to start the game.

Arizona State 68, Washington 60--After upsetting fourth-ranked Arizona in their Pac-10 opener Thursday night, the Huskies figured to have a slight letdown against the Sun Devils at Seattle.

Sure enough, the Huskies lost, to snap their seven-game home winning streak.

Isaac Austin scored 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Arizona State to its first Pac-10 victory. The Sun Devils (10-2 overall) lost their conference opener to Washington State, 95-86, Thursday night at Pullman, Wash.

Arizona State extended a five-point halftime lead to 10 points at 46-36 midway through the second half. The Huskies (9-2) cut the deficit to 60-55 on Brent Merritt’s three-point basket with 2:47 left, but the Sun Devils made all eight of their free-throw attempts in the final minute. Lynn Collins’ three-point basket with four seconds left gave the Sun Devils a five-point lead.

Tarence Wheeler added 17 points for the Sun Devils. Dion Brown led the Huskies with 18 points.

Oregon State 59, California 55--After Roy Fisher missed an eight-foot shot with four seconds to play that would have tied the score, Kevin Harris got the rebound, was fouled and made two free throws with two seconds left to clinch the victory at Corvallis, Ore.

The Beavers (7-4, 2-0) took the lead for good at 53-51 on Teo Alibegovic’s three-point basket with 6:13 to play. Cal turned the ball over five times and missed six of its last seven shots in the final minutes.

Cal (4-7, 0-2) took a 42-38 lead with 13:32 left as Oregon State missed its first six shots of the second half.