No. 11 Wildcats Hold Off Beavers

Freshman center Channing Frye made the most of a rare start for No. 11 Arizona.

Frye had 18 points and 16 rebounds as Arizona held off Oregon State, 76-73, Thursday in a Pacific 10 Conference opener at Corvallis, Ore.

“He knew how much we had to rely on him tonight,” Arizona Coach Lute Olson said. “He’s so coachable and he works so hard at the things he needs to do that he’s going to be a great player.”

Frye, entering the game with a 4.9 scoring average, had to rise to the occasion because the team’s usual starting center, Isaiah Fox, did not play because he broke an unspecified team rule.

Another Arizona starter, Will Bynum, also missed the game for violating a team rule. Olson said he wasn’t sure if Bynum and Fox would play Saturday at Oregon.

Luke Walton added 17 points and six assists for the Wildcats (6-2), and Jason Gardner made a key free throw with 14 seconds left that forced the Beavers (5-4) to go for a three-point basket.

Joe See missed the potential tying shot with two seconds remaining.

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Oregon 103, Arizona State 90--Frederick Jones scored 28 and Luke Jackson had 27 at Eugene, Ore., as the Ducks (7-3) opened Pac-10 play with a victory.

Tommy Smith scored 16 to pace the Sun Devils (5-3), who had their four-game winning streak end.

TOP 25

No. 5 Virginia 61, No. 16 Georgetown 55--Chris Williams had 17 points and 11 rebounds as the No. 5 Cavaliers (7-0) edged the Hoyas (9-2) at Washington.

Miami, Ohio 73, No. 10 Boston College 67--Alex Shorts scored 21 points at Honolulu as the RedHawks (3-5) knocked the Eagles (9-1) from the ranks of the unbeaten in the first round of the Rainbow Classic.

No. 18 Syracuse 80, South Florida 68--Preston Shumpert scored 22 points as the Orangemen (10-2) welcomed back Coach Jim Boeheim with a victory at Syracuse, N.Y. Boeheim had prostate surgery this month.

No. 25 Cincinnati 102, Louisiana Monroe 66--Steve Logan scored 23 points and Taron Barker added a career-high 18 at Las Vegas as the Bearcats (9-1) won their ninth in a row.

OTHER GAMES

Fresno State 91, Savannah State 52--Chris Jefferies scored 20 points to lead six players in double figures as the Bulldogs (8-4) snapped a three-game losing streak at Fresno.

Before the game, Fresno State announced the NCAA had levied a six-game suspension on center Melvin Ely, who has been alleged to have received extra benefits.

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San Diego State 86, Eastern Washington 58--Randy Holcomb scored 23 points as the Aztecs (7-3) cruised to victory at San Diego.