Powe and Cal Run Past Arizona

Leon Powe took control from the start, ending up with 30 points to help California move into a tie for first place in the Pacific 10 Conference with a 75-66 victory over Arizona Thursday night at Berkeley.

The Golden Bears (16-6 overall, 10-3 Pac-10) won for the sixth consecutive time to join UCLA at the top of the conference with five games left in the regular season.

Cal is looking for its first conference title since Pete Newell’s final season as coach in 1959-60.

Arizona (15-10, 8-6) fell to fifth place in the conference, putting in jeopardy the Wildcats’ streak of 21 consecutive NCAA tournament bids -- the longest active in the nation. Cal fans chanted, “N-I-T! N-I-T” in the final minute.

The Bears scored the first nine points of the game and never trailed, giving them a victory over all nine Pac-10 opponents for the first time since 1996-97.

The Wildcats went more than five minutes without a field goal early in the second half as Cal turned a three-point lead into a 48-36 edge. Powe, coming off a 32-point game against Stanford, also had 10 rebounds.

No. 20 Washington 75, Oregon 72 -- Justin Dentmon made two free throws with 25 seconds left, giving the visiting Huskies (19-5, 8-5) a 74-70 lead -- their largest of the half since 53-49 with 12:40 left.

A layup by the Ducks’ Jordan Kent made it 74-72, and Dentmon made one of two free throws with 10 seconds left, helping the Huskies beat the Ducks for the fifth time in a row.

Maarty Leunen had a chance to tie the score for Oregon (11-15, 5-9), but his three-point shot went off the front of the rim at the buzzer.

Stanford 82, Arizona State 69 -- Dan Grunfeld scored a career-high 31 points and Matt Haryasz had 22 in helping the Cardinal win for the eighth consecutive time at home.

Chris Hernandez, who scored 12 points, extended his consecutive free-throw streak to 34 for the Cardinal (13-9, 9-4).

Freshman Jeff Pendergraph scored 18 points to lead the Sun Devils (9-14, 3-11), who have lost six of their last eight.

Oregon State 71, Washington State 62 -- The Beavers (11-14, 4-10) ended a six-game losing streak by beating the visiting Cougars (11-11, 4-9) for the eighth consecutive time at Gill Coliseum.

Oregon State had dropped eight of its last nine since losing point guard Lamar Hurd because of a groin injury.