Arizona routs Oregon State

Arizona defeated Oregon State, 81-45, Thursday night at Corvallis, Ore., to strengthen its bid to make a 24th consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament.

Jerryd Bayless scored 20 points, Chase Buddinger had 17 and Nic Wise returned from a knee injury to score 15 points for the Wildcats, who improved to 18-12 overall and 8-9 in the Pacific 10 Conference.

Lathen Wallace had 11 points to lead Oregon State (6-23, 0-17), which lost its 19th consecutive game.

The Beavers would become the first Pac-10 team to go winless in conference play with a loss Saturday to Arizona State.

Oregon 67, Arizona State 61 -- The Ducks (17-12) made eight free throws during the final minute and held on to defeat the Sun Devils (18-11, 8-9) at Eugene, Ore.

Arizona State’s James Harden, the conference’s fourth-leading scorer at 17.9 points, was held to 12 through the first 36:21, but he scored 10 during the final 3:39 to help the Sun Devils rally from an 11-point deficit.

His back-to-back three-point baskets cut Oregon’s lead to 61-58 with 44 seconds left.