Dickerson Again Leads Arizona

For the second straight game, the second half belonged to Arizona’s Michael Dickerson.

Dickerson scored 14 of his 19 points after halftime as the No. 4-ranked Wildcats overcame early struggles to beat Washington State, 83-61, Saturday night at Tucson, Ariz.

Miles Simon, who had 12 points in the first half, also finished with 19 in a balanced scoring attack by the Wildcats, who won their 14th consecutive game in improving to 21-3 overall and 11-0 in the Pacific 10.

They also won their 26th straight over the Cougars--the longest streak in a Pac-10 series.

Carlos Daniel had 14 points and 14 rebounds, his conference-high 11th double-double, but couldn’t prevent the Cougars (8-14, 1-10) from losing their seventh straight.

“We tend to lose focus in the first half,” said Dickerson, who shot a school-record 11 for 11 in the second half of a win over Washington two nights earlier. The games were similar in that the visitors kept it close for one half--and Dickerson made a three-point shot just before each halftime.

Arizona State 94, Washington 85--Bobby Lazor scored 19 of his career-high 32 points in the second half as the Sun Devils (16-8, 6-5) beat the Huskies (13-7, 6-5) at Tempe, Ariz.

Lazor also had 12 rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Todd MacCulloch had 26 points, 17 rebounds and two steals for Washington and led a second-half surge that gave the Huskies the lead with 2:21 to play.

But two three-point shots late in the game from Mike Batiste and a basket off a steal from Jeremy Veal secured the victory.

Rhode Island 72, California 63--After being outplayed in the first half, Jim Harrick’s Rams took over in the second half to beat the Bears at Providence.

Five players scored in double figures Rhode Island (16-5), with Tyson Wheeler getting 15 and Preston Murphy and Joshua King 14 each, and Cuttino Mobley and Luther Clay each had 10.

Geno Carlisle had 15 points for the Golden Bears (8-11), whose leading rebounder, Sean Marks, sat out with an injury.