Oregon State Stuns Arizona in Overtime

Deanudra Tanner made a three-point shot at the buzzer in overtime to give Oregon State a stunning 70-69 victory over No. 3-ranked Arizona on Thursday night at Corvallis, Ore.

Tanner scored 20 points as Oregon State, 13-14 overall and 5-11 in the Pacific 10, defeated Arizona (24-5, 13-2) for a second consecutive time at home following 17 losses in a row overall to the Wildcats.

Michael Wright had 20 points for Arizona, which may have blown a chance at a No. 1 regional seeding in the NCAA tournament. The Wildcats play No. 1 Stanford next Thursday at Tucson.

Arizona and Oregon State traded turnovers in the final minute of overtime before Arizona’s Jason Gardner had his shot blocked by Jason Heide with 14 seconds left.

Tanner rebounded, but the ball came loose. Oregon State recovered and advanced the ball. Heide passed to Tanner, who stepped behind the three-point line and let the shot fly. With the roar of the crowd, the horn seemed to have sounded before he got the shot off, but replays showed there was 0.2 seconds left when it left his hands. After it swished through, the fans poured onto the court. Arizona Coach Lute Olson did not protest.

Regulation also ended in dramatic fashion.

Oregon State took a 60-57 lead on Brian Jackson’s two free throws with 15.9 seconds left. Gardner then put up a three-point shot with seven seconds left and fell to the floor in front of the Arizona bench. A foul was called on Jimmie Haywood, but there appeared to be little contact. Gardner made all three free throws to tie it at 60-60.

Oregon State pushed the ball past half-court, and called a timeout with 1.5 seconds left to set up a final play. But Richard Jefferson--playing for the first time since breaking his right foot in a victory at Stanford Jan. 8--leaped high to intercept the inbound pass.

Oregon 76, Arizona State 74--Darius Wright made a three-point shot at the buzzer as the Ducks (20-7, 11-5) rallied from four points down with less than four seconds left to beat the Sun Devils (16-11, 8-7) at Eugene, Ore.

Eddie House made two free throws to give Arizona State a 74-70 lead with six seconds left, but Oregon’s Ben Lindquist threw a full-court pass to Alex Scales, who made his sixth three-point shot with 3.6 seconds remaining.

Arizona State’s Kyle Dodd then threw a half-court inbound pass that went off House’s fingertips and out of bounds, giving the ball back to the Ducks under the Sun Devil basket with 3.4 seconds left.

House nearly intercepted Lindquist’s subsequent inbound pass but the ball slipped through his hands and Wright scooped it off the floor and unleashed an off-balance, high-arcing shot that swished through the net just as the buzzer sounded.

Scales had a career-high 31 points to lead Oregon, which won 20 regular-season games for the first time since 1945 and is assured of finishing third in the Pacific 10.

House led Arizona State with 15 points--eight below his conference-leading scoring average.