 |
Classifieds: |  |
| |  |
| |  |
| |  |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) — Jay John can't say what Oregon State's upset of No. 25 Arizona means in the long run. He does know what made it happen.
"We shot like crazy in the first half," the Beavers' fourth-year coach said. And they kept it up for most of the game, shooting a season-high 61.4% in a 75-65 victory over the Wildcats on Thursday night. (Related item: Game report)
Nick DeWitz had a season-high 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting to lead the Beavers, who lost a 22-point lead in the second half lead, but held on in the final minutes. Chris Stephens and Sasa Cuic each added 13 points for the Beavers (9-6, 2-2 Pac-10), who outscored Arizona 14-4 over the final four minutes after the Wildcats had rallied to tie the game. Hassan Adams had 22 points and five steals and Mustafa Shakur added 17 points for the Wildcats (10-5, 3-2). Marcel Jones scored twice and Cuic hit a 15-footer with 59 seconds left to give Oregon State a 69-63 lead. The Beavers scored the game's first 14 points and completely dominated the opening eight minutes. By the time Arizona called a timeout with 11:49 left in the half, Oregon State was up 20-4, had made nine of 10 shots and had a 6-1 rebounding advantage. The Beavers hit 12 of their first 14 shots and led by as many as 23 points early on. Oregon State shot 65% in the first half and took a 41-24 lead into halftime. John, an assistant under Lute Olson at Arizona for four seasons, beat his mentor for the second time in seven games. The Beavers entered the game off a 72-64 win over California that snapped a 14-game road losing streak and gave them a needed boost of confidence. John said he couldn't attach any particular significance to beating Arizona. "I don't really know anything yet. ... We're not near what we're going to be later. Our guys are going to get better," he said. The Wildcats handed Oregon State its only home loss last season in a game the Beavers led by 15 points at one time. The Beavers have won 12 of 14 home conference games. The Wildcats came out in a press after halftime and got back in the game after trailing 46-24. Arizona went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 55-44 on Shakur's three-point play. Less than two minutes later, after a turnover by Jason Fontenet, Adams finished a fast break with a rim-shaking dunk that got Arizona within seven. Shakur completed another three-point play to cut the lead to 61-59, and the junior point guard tied the game with a scoop shot with 4 minutes to go. But Arizona's offensive production broke down as the Beavers clamped down on defense. But to Olson, the game was lost much earlier. "If they're going to be a good team, they have to be a good team for 40 minutes," he said of the Wildcats. "They can't be a good team for 20 minutes." The Wildcats forced 23 turnovers, but were ineffective on offense for too much of the game. The return of sophomore swingman Jawann McClellan, a good shooter who was academically ineligible for the first part of the season, did little to stop Arizona's perimeter woes. The Pac-10's worst three-point shooting team went just 3-of-13 from long range. McClellan finished with eight points. "In this league you can't go on the road and play like that," Shakur said. "They had the momentum and they had the energy." No. 13 Washington rides Roy, Jones past USC LOS ANGELES — The Washington Huskies all agreed they were in a must-win situation, despite it being early in the Pac-10 season. Consecutive conference losses will do that. The 13th-ranked Huskies got back on track Thursday night with an 86-77 victory over Southern California as Brandon Roy had 23 points and 13 rebounds, and Bobby Jones got 16 of his 22 points in the second half. (Related item: Game report) "We already knew coming into the game that our backs were against the wall," Jones said. "I mean, we were 1-2 in conference. You don't want to start off conference play slow, then put yourself in a corner and force yourself to win five or six in a row. So it was a huge game." The Huskies (13-2, 2-2) never trailed despite committing 28 turnovers. A 46-24 rebounding advantage offset the sloppiness and the Huskies shot 50.8% from the field against a USC defense that allowed both Arizona and Arizona State to shoot over 50% last week. Washington has beaten USC in six of the last seven meetings after losing seven straight to the Trojans (11-5, 2-3). It was only the second game the Huskies have played outside Seattle this season. The other was 35 miles down the freeway at the Anaheim Pond, where they beat New Mexico in the John Wooden Classic on Dec. 10. The Trojans have lost four straight to Washington by a total of 75 points. Southern Cal's Gabe Pruitt scored all of his 21 points in the second half on 6-for-20 shooting after going 0-for-6 from the field in the opening half. "I probably felt a little too anxious in the first half. I was thinking too much and I didn't feel like I normally shoot," said Pruitt, whose six field goals all were three-pointers. "Every time I shot it, they got a hand on me. The refs didn't see it and I tried to let them know. But I had to keep playing through it. In the second half, I just let the game flow to me and tried to do a better job of going off screens." Loderick Stewart had 16 points and Nick Young added 15 for USC, which nearly erased a 19-point deficit. The Huskies, whose 90-point average entering the game led the nation, opened with a 25-6 run and held USC without a field goal over the first 4½ minutes. "Their athleticism was tremendous. We had no chance to rebound tonight," USC coach Tim Floyd said. "We forced 28 turnovers, but we weren't able to finish shots in transition. I think 76 points is enough to win a college basketball game, but we couldn't stop them." Pruitt made his first basket 26 seconds into the second half, a three-pointer. He had a four-point play less than a minute later, draining another three-pointer from the right corner and converting the ensuing free throw after getting fouled by Jones. That sliced Washington's margin to 47-39 after Washington led by 13 at intermission. "Gabe Pruitt was phenomenal in the second half and we knew he was capable of performing that way," Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said. "I've seen him score 20 in a half a couple of times. The Trojans are a very scrappy team and they definitely played with an identity. I cringed when I heard we had 28 turnovers, but the rebounding kind of offset it little bit." The Huskies got the lead back up to 14 before Pruitt hit consecutive three-pointers. He would have had a third, but it was waved off because of an offensive foul by Ryan Francis near the basket with 9:36 left. "I thought that was a momentum change right there," Pruitt said. "I didn't really see the foul, but that probably would have given us an extra boost." Francis fouled out 73 seconds later. Pruitt's sixth three-pointer of the half got USC within 70-66 with 7:45 to go, and the Trojans got as close as 73-70 on Dwayne Shackleford's two free throws with 5:44 left. But they made some costly turnovers down the stretch. The Huskies put it away with Mike Jensen's three-pointer and a dunk by Jones which gave them an 81-72 lead with 4:01 to play. Tempers flared under the Washington basket with 16:43 remaining and the Huskies leading 52-39. Stewart and Jamaal Williams exchanged words and had to be separated after a hard foul by UCLA's Abdoulaye N'Diaye against Jon Brockman. "This was probably the most physical game we've played against them," Jones said. "That brings out the best in us, and we're not going to back down. So that just made the game that much more intense and physical. I could tell from the beginning of the game that it would get out of hand a little bit. I got shoved out of bounds one time, and I told the ref they might want to slow things down." Minus Shipp, UCLA stumps Wash. State LOS ANGELES (AP) — So good was UCLA's first-half defense that the Bruins held Washington State to a season-low 17 points. They were lucky to escape at the end, though. Arron Afflalo scored three of his 18 points in the final 28 seconds and No. 12 UCLA held off the Cougars 63-61 Thursday night for its 11th win in 12 games. (Related item: Game report) The Bruins (14-2, 4-1 Pac-10) beat the Cougars (9-4, 2-2) for the 48th time in 49 meetings in Los Angeles. "This is a great win for us with all the adversity," UCLA coach Ben Howland said, noting injuries to seven players. Josh Akognon, last week's Pac-10 player of the week, led Washington State with 25 points, all in the second half including a career-tying six three-pointers. "I tried to do it by myself in the first half, but that wasn't working," he said. "We just worked harder in the second half. I finally relied on my guys to get me open." Trailing by 17 points, the Cougars outscored UCLA 22-7 to close to 58-56 with 1:15 remaining. Akognon did most of the damage, scoring 14 straight points, including four three-pointers. "It was kind of frustrating watching him bring his team back into it," Afflalo said. "He was doing a lot of moving and he had three guys screening for him. He was running free wherever he likes." Afflalo scored inside to keep UCLA ahead 60-56 before Akognon made three free throws to cut Washington State's deficit to a point. UCLA's Darren Collison dribbled the length of the court for a layin, making it 62-59 with 19 seconds to go. Afflalo then fouled Akognon, who made both to trail 62-61. "That was a mistake," Howland said about the foul call. "He grabbed the ball away and the official saw the second part of the play." The Cougars fouled Afflalo, who made the first and missed the second, giving Washington State another chance at the upset. But Kyle Weaver missed a layup at the buzzer. "I played Arron too many minutes," Howland said. "He got really tired down the stretch and it showed." The Bruins held the Cougars to 32% shooting in the first half. Washington State only scored nine points in the first eight minutes. UCLA built a double-digit lead midway through the half on a three-pointer by Jordan Farmar. By halftime, the Bruins were up 31-17. "UCLA's execution in the first half was a thing of beauty," Washington State coach Dick Bennett said. "Their screens, their cuts, their timing was perfect. In the second half, we made them earn it." UCLA won without sophomore forward Josh Shipp, who found out Tuesday that he'll miss the rest of the season because of continuing pain in his right hip. He averaged 11.3 points and 4.8 rebounds in UCLA's first four Pac-10 games after missing the first 11 games because of hip surgery in September. Freshman Michael Roll scored 10 points starting in place of Shipp. UCLA's injury woes were apparent before the game, when Shipp joined former starters Ryan Hollins, Cedric Bozeman and Michael Fey in street clothes on the bench. Hollins has missed six straight games because of a strained groin, but is likely to return Saturday; Bozeman has yet to play a conference game because of torn cartilage in his left shoulder; and Fey has missed six in a row with a sprained right ankle. Even the Bruins who played aren't all healthy. Afflalo sustained a left hip pointer last week against Arizona State; Farmar has been slowed by a right ankle sprain; and Lorenzo Mata, who fractured his nose against Arizona State, went down with three minutes remaining in a collision with Farmar. He injured his right knee and was scheduled to have an MRI late Thursday night. Farmar and Mata collided going for the ball. "We bumped knees and he got the worst of it," Farmar said. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
