Arizona’s Rebounds Overcome Sloppiness

No. 8-ranked Arizona used inside domination to overcome sloppy play in a 98-87 victory over Washington State on Thursday night at Tucson.

Arizona, 10-1 overall and 2-1 in the Pacific 10, needed a 54-23 rebounding advantage to overcome 30 turnovers in beating Washington State (7-6, 1-1) for the 27th consecutive time. It was also the Wildcats’ 24th home-court victory in a row.

“The effort on the glass was outstanding, but we had enough turnovers to open a bakery in the morning,” Arizona Coach Lute Olson said. “Thirty turnovers--that’s a record for any team I’ve been involved with.”

Guard Jan-Michael Thomas made eight of 12 three-point shots and had a career-high 34 points for Washington State, which could only get as close as 10 points of Arizona in the game’s final 13 minutes. Thomas, a junior college transfer, made all six of his three-point shots and scored 26 points in the second half.

Arizona’s Richard Jefferson had 25 points, the second game in a row the freshman forward reached a career high. He also had 12 rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals.

Jason Terry, despite sitting out nine minutes with foul trouble, led Arizona with 27 points. Ruben Douglas, another Wildcat freshman, had a career-best 14 points.

No. 5 Maryland 71, Virginia 66--Juan Dixon made two free throws with 3.4 seconds at Charlottesvlle, Va., to seal the Atlantic Coast Conference victory for the Terrapins (14-2, 2-1). Maryland went final 5:43 without a field goal and missed five of 12 free throws before Dixon made his two. Virginia (9-6, 0-3) has only six scholarship players because of injuries and transfers.

No. 15 New Mexico 90, San Diego State 60--Kenny Thomas, bothered by a sinus headache, had 22 points and 12 rebounds for the Lobos (13-2, 1-1) in the Western Athletic Conference game at Albuquerque. San Diego State (2-11, 0-1) got 18 points from David Abramowitz, one of six freshmen on the team.

No. 17 Iowa 84, Illinois 62--The Hawkeyes (12-1, 3-0) had a 44-26 rebounding advantage and forced 22 turnovers at Iowa City in beating the Illini (8-6, 0-2) for the first time in four Big Ten games. Jess Settles had a season-high 11 rebounds and was one of Iowa’s’ four double-figure scorers with 11 points.

OTHER GAMES

Bobby Lazor scored 30 points, including his team’s first 12 of the second half, as Arizona State (9-6, 1-2) rolled to a 96-72 Pacific 10 victory over Washington (7-5, 0-2) at Tempe, Ariz. Lazor, who made 11 of 16 shots, had a career-high 32 points against Washington last season. Mike Batiste had 22 points and Eddie House 20 for Arizona State, which had its best shooting percentage (.618) in almost five years. . . . Fresno State (11-6, 1-1) had a season-low point total and its winning streak ended at eight in a 91-64 loss to San Jose State (8-6, 1-0) in a WAC at San Jose. . . . Erick Ashe had 20 points for Santa Barbara (3-8, 1-0) in a 74-62 home-court Big West victory over Idaho (4-7, 0-2).