Beavers Lose in John’s Return

Oregon State Coach Jay John was back on the bench Saturday night, but it didn’t help the Beavers against No. 13 Arizona.

The Wildcats’ Salim Stoudamire made a triumphant return to his home state, scoring 25 points to lead Arizona to a 92-83 victory at Corvallis, Ore.

John was hospitalized after experiencing chest pains and shortness of breath during halftime of a Jan. 15 game against Washington. He was diagnosed with hypertension and spent the night in the hospital.

John was ordered to rest for several days to allow the medication he was taking to stabilize his blood pressure and he missed Thursday night’s game against Arizona State. But doctors cleared the former Arizona assistant to coach Saturday.

“I’m feeling very good and very fortunate,” he said before tipoff. “And I’m very excited that I’m able to coach this game.”

John, 46, said he remembered little about his ambulance ride to the hospital.

“I’m not going to say my blood pressure numbers but they were way, way up,” John said. “Way up. Once I got there they pretty much got me settled down. The bottom line is you’ve got to get well in that situation. You get humbled really quick.”

The Beavers, 11-7 overall and 3-4 in the Pacific 10 Conference, charged to a 15-point lead in the first half against the Wildcats, but Arizona (16-3, 6-1) battled back to lead at the break, 44-43.

Then Stoudamire, who went to Lake Oswego High, and Channing Frye, who had 20 points and seven rebounds, took over.

John said Stoudamire and Frye are a brutal combination.

“Those are two guys right there that as are as good as they can get,” he said.

*

Arizona State 64, Oregon 51 -- Serge Angounou had 20 points and 10 rebounds to lift the Sun Devils (14-5, 3-4) past the Ducks (11-5, 3-4) at Eugene, Ore.

Arizona State was giving up 90.7 points a game during a three-game losing streak, but Oregon could never get going offensively, shooting 28.6% from the field.