Stanford tops Arizona

The Stanford players thought they were reliving a nightmare.

Two days after blowing a comfortable lead in an overtime loss at Arizona State, the Cardinal watched Arizona erase an eight-point deficit during the final 4:23 at Tucson.

This time, however, the Cardinal recovered.

Brook Lopez scored 23 points, including the winning free throw with 18 seconds left, as No. 7 Stanford held off the Wildcats, 67-66, on Saturday.

“There was a sense of deja vu, but we weren’t going to let that happen,” said Brook Lopez’s twin brother, Robin, who scored 14 points. “We didn’t want to make the same mistake two games in a row.”

Stanford (21-4 overall, 10-3 in the Pacific 10 Conference) bounced back from a 72-68 loss at Arizona State that ended less than 39 hours before tipoff at McKale Center. In Tempe, the Cardinal led by 15 points with 7:59 to play and by seven with 1:49 to go before losing in overtime.

“Thursday was a tough loss, considering we had a nine-point lead with ‘X’ amount of time on the clock,” Stanford Coach Trent Johnson said. “For them to bounce back against a team this talented and this well-coached is really good for us.”

On Saturday, the Cardinal used its size advantage to take command of the game midway through the second half, and the Wildcats (16-9, 6-6) seemingly had no answer for the 7-foot Lopez twins after starting center Jordan Hill fouled out with 5:27 to play. Stanford out-rebounded Arizona, 40-26.

“It’s hard for us to guard them with our frontline guys,” Arizona interim Coach Kevin O’Neill said. “They are big, agile and hard to guard. They’re both going to be NBA players.”

But the undersized Wildcats, playing without injured point guard Nic Wise, rallied behind freshman guard Jerryd Bayless, who scored 31 points. It was his third consecutive game over 30. In his previous two games, he scored 39 against Arizona State and 33 against California.

Bayless scored 16 consecutive points in the second half to keep the Wildcats close. He made seven of 18 shots from the field and all 16 of his free throws -- a school single-game record for free-throw percentage.

No. 21 Washington State 62, Oregon 53 -- The Cougars (20-5, 8-5) ended a 12-game losing streak at McArthur Court. They last beat the Ducks (15-10, 6-7) in Eugene in 1995.

Earlier this season, Washington State ended a 13-game losing streak to Oregon at Pullman.

The Washington State defense, ranked third in the nation, was able to dictate the offensive flow from the start against the top-scoring team in the conference.

Oregon, which made 32 three-point baskets and averaged 81.5 points in its previous two games, was held to four three-pointers in 17 attempts and 25.9 points below its season scoring average despite shooting 49% from the field.

California 76, Arizona State 73 -- The Golden Bears (15-9, 6-7) held off a late rally by the Sun Devils (16-8, 6-6) at Tempe to give Coach Ben Braun his 550th career victory. In his 31st season, Braun ranks as the 10th-winningest active coach (550-382).

Arizona State failed to complete what would have been the program’s first sweep of the Bay Area schools at home since the 1994-95 season.

Ty Abbott, one of Arizona State’s two standout freshmen (James Harden is the other), scored 30 points. It was a season best for the Sun Devils, and ranks third by a freshman in school history behind Byron Scott and Mario Bennett.

Washington 97, Oregon State 59 -- Ryan Appleby had a career-high 32 points, including nine-three-point baskets, to help the Huskies (14-12, 5-8) hand the Beavers their 15th consecutive loss, the longest losing streak in team history.

Oregon State (6-19, 0-13), the worst shooting team in the conference, made only seven of 28 shots in the first half and finished 19 for 59 (32.2%).