Oregon Is Blocked by Woods

Arizona’s 7-foot-1 Loren Woods blocked three shots the first time Oregon had the ball. He was just getting started.

“Loren sent a message on the first possession,” Arizona Coach Lute Olson said.

However, for a good part of Thursday night’s game at Tucson, the message didn’t get through.

Oregon players kept coming at Woods, who kept swatting shots away until he had tied the NCAA record with 14 blocks, but the No. 9-ranked Wildcats didn’t take control until the final seconds of a 77-71 victory over the No. 23 Ducks.

Woods equaled the NCAA record set by David Robinson of Navy in 1986 and tied by Shawn Bradley of Brigham Young in 1990 and Roy Rogers of Alabama in 1996.

Woods also had 16 points and 10 rebounds for Arizona’s first triple double since Damon Stoudamire had one against Oregon in 1995.

Arizona, 18-4 overall and 7-1 in the Pacific 10, trailed most of the game and never led by more than two points until the last 23 seconds. Woods gave the Wildcats the lead for good at 73-71 on a rebound basket with 1:03 to go.

Oregon (15-4, 6-2) lost for the 15th consecutive time at McKale Center. The Ducks were called for 25 fouls to eight for the Wildcats, who made 25 more free throws (27-2) with 33 more attempts (36-3).

Forward Alex Scales, who led Oregon with 18 points, fouled out with three minutes to play.

No. 1 Cincinnati 70, North Carolina Charlotte 62--Center Kenyon Martin had 20 points and eight rebounds as the Bearcats (21-1, 9-0 in Conference USA) increased their win streak to 13, and won for the first time in three games at Charlotte, N.C. It was the first loss in eight home games this season for Charlotte (12-9, 4-4).

No. 3 Duke 90, North Carolina 86--The Blue Devils (17-2, 8-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) blew a 19-point lead in the second half at Chapel Hill, N.C., then scored on their first six possessions in overtime en route to their 17th consecutive win. Duke, which got a game-high 25 points from forward Shane Battier and 23 from swingman Chris Carrawell, also increased its regular-season ACC win streak to 30. North Carolina (13-9, 4-4) got 21 points from guard Ed Cota and 20 from guard Joseph Forte, whose three-point basket with 5.6 seconds left accounted for final points of regulation.

Iowa 77, No. 15 Kansas 69--Center Jacob Jaacks had 16 points and 10 rebounds and the Hawkeyes (10-10) held the Jayhawks (16-5) to 42.4% shooting and forced 22 turnovers at Iowa City. Iowa, which had overcome an 18-point deficit in the final 13 minutes to end Kansas’ home-court win streak at 62 last season, never trailed by more than eight points and took the lead for good at 56-55 with 7:36 left. Kansas got 21 points and 10 rebounds from forward Nick Collison, a freshman from Iowa Falls who heard chants of “sellout” from Iowa fans throughout the game.

No. 17 Tulsa 70, Southern Methodist 59--The Golden Hurricane (21-2, 6-1 in the Western Athletic Conference) forced 23 turnovers, 15 on steals, and blocked eight shots while the Mustangs (16-5, 4-3) shot 24% shooting, making only one of 18 three-point attempts, at Tulsa, Okla.

OTHER GAMES

Guard Eddie House, the nation’s No. 6-leading scorer at 22.9 points a game, had 19 points to lead Arizona State (12-8, 4-4 in the Pacific 10) to a 75-64 victory over Oregon State (10-9, 2-6) at Tempe, Ariz.