COLLEGE FOOTBALL : Washington’s Defense Doesn’t Yield to Arizona : Pacific 10: Malloe’s big defensive plays, Shehee’s run help Huskies beat Wildcats, 31-17.

Washington’s Rashaan Shehee broke open a tight game with a 48-yard scoring run in the third quarter, and Ikaika Malloe made two big defensive plays in the same period as the Huskies defeated Arizona, 31-17, Saturday night.

Shehee’s sprint off tackle with 10:46 left in the period gave the Huskies a 24-10 lead, and Arizona couldn’t recover against a suddenly potent Washington defense that had been yielding 415 yards per game.

Reggie Reser and Malloe of Washington underlined the point by picking off passes by Dan White later in the third.

Then Malloe produced his second gem of the night, sacking White and forcing a fumble which nose tackle David Richie scooped up and returned 31 yards for a touchdown.

The No. 20 Huskies (5-2) stayed perfect in four Pacific 10 outings while Arizona (3-4, 1-3) fell below .500 for the first time since 1992.

In the first half, Damon Huard passed for touchdowns of 17 yards to Ernie Conwell and five yards to Jerome Pathon, and John Wales kicked a 32-yard field goal.

White threw two touchdown passes for Arizona--a 23-yarder to Mike Metzler, and a late 36-yarder to Rodney Williams, and Jon Prasuhn kicked a 32-yard field goal that cut Washington’s lead to 17-10 three seconds before halftime.

Sophomore Brady Batten started at quarterback, interrupting White’s string of 27 consecutive starts. Batten had come off the bench to lead the Wildcats to a win over California three weeks earlier, and both had bad games against UCLA.

Washington led 17-0 before White got in, scoring on each possession in the first quarter after taking over at the Arizona 20-, 38- and 34-yard lines.

The Huskies held Arizona to minus-12 yards and one first down in the period.

Arizona got the opening kickoff, but Washington’s Lawyer Milloy hammered Gary Taylor on the third snap. The ball popped loose, Deke Devers recovered, and Conwell caught Huard’s throw in the end zone 2:28 into the contest.

Arizona had to punt after three plays on its next possession, and this time it took 11 snaps for the Huskies to find the end zone.

Wales’ field goal early in the second quarter followed a drive set up by three straight outstanding defensive plays.