No. 3 Arizona Saved by Simon’s Buzzer-Beater

Miles Simon rebounded a missed free throw, dribbled down court and made a jump shot at the buzzer to lift No. 3 Arizona to a 71-70 Pacific 10 Conference victory over Oregon State on Thursday night at Corvallis, Ore.

Oregon State took a 70-69 lead with 30.7 seconds left when Nick Greene made two free throws.

On the next possession, Simon fell down and was called for traveling with 6.6 seconds remaining. Oregon State’s Todd Marshall was fouled after the inbounds pass with six seconds left, but missed both of his free throws.

Simon tipped the ball to himself, dashed toward Arizona’s basket and put up a shot just inside the foul line. The ball rolled into the hoop as time expired.

Arizona improved to 23-3 overall and 12-0 in the Pac-10 with its 16th consecutive victory this season and 17th in a row over Oregon State (12-14, 2-12).

Corey Benjamin, Oregon State’s top scorer, missed the game because of an abdominal injury.

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In other top 25 games: Tenth-ranked Stanford (22-3, 11-2) fell behind momentarily in the first half before surging ahead en route to a 93-70 Pac-10 victory over Washington (15-8, 8-6) at Stanford. . . . Kenny Thomas had a career-high 31 points and Royce Olney tied a school record with eight three-pointers for No. 11 New Mexico (21-3, 11-1) in a 95-71 Western Athletic Conference victory over Texas El Paso (12-12, 3-9) at Albuquerque, N.M. The Lobos tied the school and WAC record with 18 three-pointers.

Only hours after being told his mother had died, Ruben Patterson scored 32 points to lead No. 17 Cincinnati (20-5, 11-2) to a 93-76 Conference USA victory over Alabama Birmingham (15-10, 7-6) at Birmingham, Ala. Charlene Patterson died of a heart attack Wednesday night in Cleveland. . . . Freshman Robert O’Kelley of Wake Forest (13-11, 5-8) scored 31 points in the Demon Deacons’ 83-79 victory over No. 25 Maryland (15-9, 8-6) in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at College Park, Md.

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In other games: Sean Marks came off the bench to score 12 points as California (10-12, 6-7) overcame a sluggish shooting night in a 69-60 Pac-10 victory over Washington State (9-16, 2-12) at Oakland . . . Five players for Oregon (12-11, 7-7) scored more than 10 points, including Henry Madden, who had 20 points and eight rebounds in a 97-73 Pac-10 victory over Arizona State (16-10, 6-7) at Eugene, Ore.