Wildcats surprise Huskies

All the time Nic Wise and his Arizona teammates have spent shooting free throws lately paid off in a 106-97 victory over No. 23 Washington on Thursday night at Tucson.

The Wildcats (13-8, 3-5) set a McKale Center record by making 41 of 51 free throws in the game, 34 of 40 in the second half.

Wise scored a career-high 29 points and was 14 of 14 at the line. He had eight free throws down the stretch as Washington (15-5, 6-2) closed a 16-point lead to 91-88 with 1:51 remaining.

“We have been getting extra work the last couple of weeks and it really paid off,” Arizona’s Chase Budinger said.

Arizona made only three field goals over the final 11 minutes, the last one Zane Johnson’s three-point basket that made it 94-88 with 1:40 left. It was his only field goal of the game, and only the second shot for the Wildcats in nearly nine minutes.

Budinger scored 25 points and Jordan Hill had 18.

“We had to result to fouling and pressing and trapping. It got away from us a little bit,,” Washington Coach Lorenzo Romar said.

Jon Brockman had 27 points to lead Washington, which fell into a first-place tie in the Pacific 10 with UCLA.

Washington State 65, No. 14 Arizona State 55 -- Freshman Klay Thompson scored a season-high 28 points and made eight of 10 from three-point range to lead the Cougars’ upset at Tempe, Ariz.

Aron Baynes had 22 points and nine rebounds for the Cougars (12-8, 4-4), who beat a ranked team for the first time in five games this season.

James Harden scored 26 points to lead the Sun Devils (16-4, 5-3), who have lost five in a row to Washington State.

Arizona State shot 37% from the field, and only 28% (eight of 29) in the second half.

Thompson made his first seven three-point attempts, the last of which gave the Cougars a 41-39 lead with 13:13 left.

Washington State made seven free throws in the final minute to secure the win.