Fans Really Get Carried Away After Oregon Defeats Arizona

It wasn’t quite as noisy or wild as usual at McArthur Court in Eugene, Ore., for Thursday night’s Pacific 10 Conference game between No. 13-ranked Arizona and Oregon.

A section of 228 student seats was vacant under the direction of Oregon student body leaders to protest improper behavior by students at recent games.

Oregon apparently didn’t need the extra fan support as it defeated Arizona, 78-72--ending at 12 a losing streak against the Wildcats, including five at McArthur Court.

Guard Jamal Lawrence had 20 points for Oregon, while Arizona guard Mike Bibby had 22.

Oregon, 15-8 overall and 6-8 in the Pacific 10, scored the game’s last eight points, six by guard Kenya Wilkins, after Arizona (16-7, 8-5) had scored 12 in a row to take their only lead of the game at 72-70 on Miles Simon’s three-point shot with 3:22 left.

Oregon Coach Jerry Green spoke to the crowd before the game and asked them for their positive support. Afterward, the students lifted him up in celebration at center court.

“I truly believe they are really great kids and when they were out there celebrating I just kind of joined them to hopefully show them how much they mean to us,” Green said.

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In other Pacific 10 games Thursday night:

No. 20 Stanford 76, Washington State 63--Guard Brevin Knight had 23 points and made six consecutive free throws in the final two minutes as the Cardinal (16-6, 9-5) moved into a third-place tie with USC by defeating the Cougars (11-14, 3-10) at Pullman, Wash.

Washington State guard Isaac Fontaine scored 26 points and needs nine points to break Steve Puidokas’ school record of 1,894 from 1974-77.

No. 25 California 78, Washington 67--Forward Alfred Grigsby made nine of 12 shots and had 19 points and 13 rebounds to help the second-place Golden Bears (19-6, 10-4) win for the ninth time in 10 games at Seattle.

Cal guard Ed Gray, the Pacific 10’s leading scorer at 24.1 points a game, made only six of 17 shots in a 17-point effort--ending his streak of games with 20 or more at 11.

Washington (14-8, 7-6) led by as many as 14 points in the first half, but Cal took control with 63% shooting in the second half.

Oregon State 71, Arizona State 67--Guard Corey Benjamin had 22 points as the Beavers (7-16, 3-11) moved out of last place at Corvallis, Ore. Arizona State is 10-15 and 2-11.

OTHER TOP 25 GAMES

Texas El Paso 71, No. 10 New Mexico 62--The Lobos (20-5, 9-4) shot 33% in losing for the fifth time in eight road games in the Western Athletic Conference contest at El Paso.

Center Kenny Thomas had 26 points for New Mexico, which has won 25 consecutive home games over two seasons. Guard Kimani Jones-Young had 21 points for Texas El Paso (11-12, 5-9).

No. 9 South Carolina 85, Citadel 55--Nate Wilbourne, a 6-foot-11 transfer from Ohio State, had a season-high 20 points as the Gamecocks reached 20 victories, against six losses, for the first time in six seasons in a nonconference game at Charleston, S.C.

South Carolina’s high-scoring guard trio of Larry Davis, BJ McKie and Melvin Watson was needed to score only 38 points as Citadel (12-13), with no starter over 6 feet 8, offered little resistance close to the basket.

No. 11 Cincinnati 76, South Florida 56--Forward Danny Fortson scored the first 15 points for the Bearcats (21-5, 9-1) and finished with 30 in the Conference USA game with the Bulls (7-16, 1-10) at Tampa, Fla.

Fortson made 12 of 18 shots and had nine rebounds.

Marquette 79, No. 15 Louisville 71--Reserve center Jarrod Lovette made two free throws that accounted for the final points of regulation and finished with career highs of 19 points and 15 rebounds as the Golden Eagles (16-7, 7-4) defeated the Cardinals (20-6, 7-4) in overtime of the Conference USA game at Milwaukee.

Lovette, who made all eight of his free throws, became the starter when Richard Shaw suffered a sprained ankle in practice on Wednesday.

Guard Aaron Hutchins had five points in overtime for Marquette, including the basket with 4:23 to play that put the Golden Eagles ahead for good.

Louisville guard DeJuan Wheat made his 300th three-point basket early in the second half but missed a shot from beyond the arc as time expired in regulation.

No. 16 Xavier of Ohio 82, Duquesne 74--Guard Lenny Brown made three consecutive steals during a 20-4 second-half run that allowed the Musketeers (19-4, 10-3) to overcome a 12-point deficit against the Dukes (8-15, 4-9) in the Atlantic 10 Conference game at Pittsburgh.

Guard Tom Pipkins scored 29 points, one less than he did in Duquesne’s 78-70 upset of Xavier on Jan. 25, but had only one basket in the final 15 minutes.

Iowa 80, No. 18 Michigan 75--Forward J.R. Koch, booed by the home crowd last week and benched for subpar play, scored 12 of his 14 points in a 27-8 first-half run that carried the Hawkeyes (17-8, 8-5) past the Wolverines (17-8, 7-6) in the Big Ten game at Iowa City.

Koch had scored only eight points during Iowa’s three-game losing streak and heard boos from the student section in the 68-66 loss to Minnesota five days ago. Against Michigan, Koch came off the bench four minutes into the game and made his first five shots, including two three-pointers, to led the Hawkeyes to a 44-29 halftime lead. Iowa had trailed by double figures at halftime in each of its game during the losing streak.

Guard Andre Woolridge had a game-high 25 points for Iowa while guard Louis Bullock scored 23 to lead Michigan.

No. 22 College of Charleston 81, Southeast Louisiana 68--The Cougars (24-2, 15-0) extended the nation’s longest win streak to 18 in the Trans America Athletic Conference game against the Lions (9-16, 7-8) at Charleston, S.C.

It was also Charleston’s 31st consecutive home victory--the second-longest streak in Division I to Kansas’ 43.

Meanwhile, Sedric Webber--a top reserve forward for Charleston--was charged with assaulting a former girlfriend in his dorm room Wednesday night and released on his own recognizance Thursday morning. He played 11 minutes.

OTHER GAMES

Guard Charles Jones, the nation’s leading scorer at 30.2 points a game, had 41 points for Long Island (17-8, 14-3) but Monmouth (14-10, 11-6) was a 102-97 overtime winner in the Northeast Conference game at West Long Branch, N.J. Jones took 16 three-point shots, making seven. . . . Hawaii (19-4, 11-2) kept its two-game lead in the Western Athletic Conference’s Pacific Division over Fresno State and Nevada Las Vegas with a 74-62 victory over San Diego State (12-12, 4-10) in a game late Wednesday night at Honolulu.

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Pac-10 Race Conf.

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Team W L UCLA 11 3 California 10 4 Stanford 9 5 USC 9 5 Arizona 8 5 Washington 7 6 Oregon 6 8 Washington State 3 10 Oregon State 3 11 Arizona State 2 11

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Team W L UCLA 16 7 California 19 6 Stanford 16 6 USC 14 9 Arizona 16 7 Washington 14 8 Oregon 15 8 Washington State 11 14 Oregon State 7 16 Arizona State 10 15

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THURSDAY’S GAMES

Oregon 78, Arizona 72

Oregon State 71, Arizona State 67

California 78, Washington 67

Stanford 76, Washington State 63

SATURDAY’S GAMES

Stanford at Washington 2

California at Washington State 3

Arizona at Oregon State 4

Arizona State at Oregon 7

SUNDAY’S GAME

Duke at UCLA 11 a.m.