Arizona Bounces Back Against Cal

The Arizona Wildcats expect to lose their No. 1 national ranking next week, but they’re alone atop the Pacific 10 Conference.

Jason Gardner scored 18 points to lead six Arizona players in double figures at Tucson as the Wildcats rolled over No. 20 California, 95-80, on Saturday.

Arizona, 16-2 overall and 8-1 in the Pac-10, rebounded from Thursday night’s loss to Stanford to take sole possession of first place in the conference.

California (14-4, 7-2) lost both games on its Arizona trip to fall into a second-place tie with Stanford.

The Wildcats never trailed, were up by 10 at halftime and led by as many as 18 in the second half.

“It was a big game,” Gardner said. “We talk about when you get knocked down, how are you going to respond? We were ready. We are first in the conference and back on track.”

Arizona had only eight turnovers against Cal and made 26 of 35 free throws.

“I’ve said all along we should be a lot better a month from now than we are right now, but for that to happen guys have to really concentrate on doing their job,” Wildcat Coach Lute Olson said.

Cal couldn’t recover from a 20-6 Arizona run that started near the end of the first half and continued into the second.

Arizona’s Salim Stoudamire scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half. Rick Anderson also scored 15 points, 10 in the second half. Luke Walton, who played only 13 minutes because of foul trouble, did not score but had six assists.

Joe Shipp scored 21 points, Brian Wethers had 16 and Amit Tamir 14 for Cal.

“This is definitely frustrating,” Shipp said. “We wanted to come here and get two wins and hopefully the Pac-10 lead, but we didn’t do that.”

Stanford 58, Arizona State 57 -- Josh Childress’ basket with 40 seconds left at Tempe, Ariz., lifted the Cardinal to its 10th consecutive victory over the Sun Devils.

Childress’ winning basket came after Arizona State’s Curtis Millage was called for an offensive foul, sending Stanford’s Rob Little to the free-throw line with a one-and-one opportunity. Little missed the free throw, but Childress, who had 10 rebounds and 21 points, scored off the miss to put Cardinal ahead.

In the last 10 seconds, Arizona State’s Donnell Knight and Kenny Crandall missed jump shots before Stanford’s Nick Robinson grabbed the rebound.

Robinson was fouled and missed the free throw, but Jamal Hill’s 30-foot shot at the buzzer was wide.

Matt Lottich had 15 points for Stanford (16-5, 7-2). The Cardinal is 6-0 on its trips to Arizona the last three years.

Stanford has won 10 in a row over Arizona State, including eight in Tempe. Ike Diogu had 16 points and a season-high 14 rebounds for the Wildcats (13-7, 5-4).