Arizona shocks sixth-ranked Washington State
Jerryd Bayless scored 23 points and doled out six assists to lead Arizona to a surprising 76-64 win over sixth-ranked Washington State at the McKale Center.
Chase Budinger chipped in 22 points for the Arizona Wildcats (13-6, 3-3 Pac-10), who have won two in a row. Jawann McClellan contributed 14 points for Arizona.
Kyle Weaver and Aron Baynes scored 15 points apiece for Washington State (16-2, 4-2), which had its two game win streak broken and has lost two of four overall. Daven Harmeling added 13 points for the Cougars.
Taylor Rochestie sank a jumper that pulled Washington State to within nine points with 9:36 left, but on Arizona's ensuing possession Budinger hit a pair of free throws that sparked a 9-0 run. McClellan sank a jumper just past the six-minute mark to cap the run and put the Wildcats up 68-50.
Three Baynes free throws and two Harmeling free throws cut the deficit to 68-55, though three straight McClellan free throws and a Budinger trey gave Arizona its biggest lead of the game, 74-55, with just under three minutes on the clock.
The Wildcats were never tested again and cruised to victory.
"Any time you beat a top-10 team it means you're getting better," Arizona interim head coach Kevin O'Neill said. "We still have work to do."
Both schools battled back and forth for the better part of the first half. Washington State tied the game at 21 on a Nikola Koprivica three-pointer with just under eight minutes to play before halftime.
Moments later, Arizona opened a four-point lead, 29-25, on two three-pointers with a Weaver jumper mixed in between.
A Baynes dunk and another Weaver jump shot knotted it up at 29 for the Cougars with 3:44 to play before the break. A minute later, Jerryd Bayless' layup and Nic Wise's three-ball increased Arizona's lead to five.
However, Rochestie's layup made it 34-31 in favor of Arizona going into halftime.
The Wildcats opened a nine-point lead, 47-38, on two consecutive treys, the first from Bayless and the latter from Wise, with just over 14 minutes left in the game.
A Budinger three-pointer increased Arizona's lead to 59-48 approaching the midway point of the second half.
Game Notes
Arizona's Jordan Hill had 10 rebounds and six blocks...The Wildcats shot 57.1 percent from three-point range, while the Cougars hit on 41.2 percent from behind the arc.
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