Arizona Victory Hardly a Shock

For the last 18 years, there has been one certainty in Pacific 10 basketball: Oregon State always loses to Arizona at Tucson.

The ninth-ranked Wildcats continued their dominance of the Beavers at McKale Center with a 90-73 victory Saturday that kept them tied with Stanford for the Pac-10 lead at the conference’s midway point.

Center Loren Woods, who tied an NCAA record with 14 blocked shots in Arizona’s victory over Oregon Thursday night, had 15 points, nine rebounds and one block against Oregon State (10-10, 2-7 in the Pacific 10) before coming out with 8:37 remaining and Arizona (19-4, 8-1) ahead,64-42.

“Against Oregon, we got a tough, physical game but we executed down the stretch,” Woods said. “Tonight, we were able to run away a little bit more, and we were able to get some people some rest.”

Oregon State, which had defeated Arizona at Corvallis, Ore., last season, committed 20 turnovers, 10 by point guard Deaundra Tanner, who also made only two of 10 shots.

Forward Michael Wright had a game-high 22 points for Arizona, which had five players score in double figures.

Guard Gilbert Arenas and swingman Rick Anderson had 13 points apiece and forward Luke Walton had 12 points and eight assists.

“I thought the best players for us were Rick and Luke,” Arizona Coach Lute Olson said. “They did a good job defensively, and they made it very difficult on their wings.”

Freshman forward Brian Jackson led Oregon State with 18 points and freshman guard Jimmie Haywood had 12, making all four of his three-point shots. Jackson was recruited intensely by Olson but chose to stay in his home state. Haywood once verbally committed to attend Arizona.

“I wanted to do well here because they recruited me,” Jackson said. “So, I tried extra hard to do well.”

Arizona led 40-30 at halftime and scored the first 12 points of the second half--with Arenas getting six on a dunk, a layup after a steal and and a 10-foot pull-up jumper on a fastbreak.

Oregon State committed five turnovers in the first 4 1/2 minutes of the second half and didn’t come closer than 15 points.

No. 23 Oregon 86, Arizona State 73--The Ducks (16-4, 7-2) bounced back from their tough loss to Arizona by easily handling the Sun Devils (12-9, 4-5) at Tempe, Ariz.

Oregon took a 33-23 lead at halftime and was ahead by double figures the rest of the way--with its biggest advantage being 22 points.

Forward A.D. Smith had 20 points and 12 rebounds for the Ducks, and swingman Alex Scales had 17 points.

Freshman forward Donnell Knight led Arizona State with a season-high 16 points, and guard Eddie House and forward Shawn Redhage had 15 each.

House, the No. 6 scorer in the nation at 22.6 points a game, made only five of 19 shots.

It was Arizona State’s 13th consecutive loss to a ranked team at home.

Washington 74, Washington State 68--Guard Deon Luton scored 26 points, including a dunk with 49 seconds left in overtime that put the Huskies (8-13, 3-6) ahead for good at Pullman, Wash.

It was the 10th consecutive loss for Washington State (5-13, 0-9)--its longest streak since dropping 18 in a row in 1989-90.

After Luton’s dunk gave Washington a 67-65 lead, the Huskies made seven free throws in the final 31 seconds.

Washington State, which had overcome a 12-point halftime deficit, got 23 points and eight rebounds from forward Eddie Miller and 19 points and 12 rebounds from guard Mike Bush.