Arizona Streaks Past Arizona St.

Gilbert Arenas scored 18 of his game-high 22 points in the second half to lead No. 8-ranked Arizona to an 88-58 victory over Arizona State 88-58 Wednesday night.

Michael Wright had 15 points and 12 rebounds as Arizona, 19-7 overall and 11-3 in the Pacific 10, defeated Arizona State (11-14, 3-11) for the 12th consecutive time.

Arenas, who scored 23 in Arizona’s 86-75 victory over Arizona State last month, made two three-point shots and two free throws as the Wildcats opened the second half with a 15-0 run to extend a nine-point halftime lead to 49-25 with 16:29 remaining.

Arenas scored all his second-half points in the first nine minutes of the half as the Arizona to took a 61-34 lead with 10:35 to play. The Wildcats led by as many as 35 in the final minutes.

“Arizona came in and took the fight to us and took us out of everything we were trying to do,” Arizona State Coach Rob Evans said. “They intimidated us a little bit with their play.”

Arizona made only eight of 20 shots in the first half but converted 16 of 21 free throws to take control. The Wildcats finished 36 of 47 from the line, compared to the Sun Devils’ 14 for 23.

Among the 54 fouls called were three technicals, including a flagrant foul and ejection for Arizona State’s Awvee Storey with 5:38 remaining.

“I enjoy physical games, but I don’t enjoy cheap shots,” Arizona’s Eugene Edgerson said. “They were doing a couple of things that were outside the rules of basketball. At times, their guys were trying to hurt our guys and that ain’t right.”

Said Evans: “I’ll take a look at the tape and see if there was any unnecessary stuff out there. I thought I saw some things on both ends. Some were called and some were not. If I see anything that shouldn’t have been out there, I’ll take care of it.

“My teams play hard. My teams will not play dirty.”

Brad Nahra, a former walk-on, led Arizona State with 12 points The Sun Devils have lost seven of their last nine at home.