(Alex Gonzalez reporting for Mid Valley Sports)
Oregon State Upsets Top Seed Washington
By Alex Gonzalez
Los Angeles— Jared Cunningham scored the final bucket for the Beavers to give Oregon State the 86-84 win against top seed Washington, Thursday at the Pacific Life PAC-12 Tournament in Los Angeles.
“We fought hard,”said Beavers head coach Craig Robinson.
But OSU blew a 15 point lead in the second half.
“It was a rocky time,” said Oregon State’s Joe Burton. “We’ve just got to play together, keep our chemistry and stick to the game plan.”
OSU came out in the second half flat, missing easy layups and free throws. Washington was able to convert all of the Beavers miss cues.
The Huskies were able to comeback by forcing turnovers and swarming the boards on the defensive glass to build an eight point lead in the second half.
With less than a minute left in the game the Beavers cameback thanks to Cunningham scoring the game winning layup.
Washingto had a a final chance but Tony Wroten missed four crucial free throws with less than 18 seconds left in the game.
“We tried to let him know that we still had a chance to win the game after he missed those free throws,” said Washington’s Darnell Grant.
“He’s been really good,” said Huskie head coach Lorenzo Romar. “I thought tonight he was really aggressive getting to the basket. He got fouled a lot.”
Wroten was the only Huskie in double figures with 10 points and two boards.
While Oregon state spread the ball around, and had three players in double figures. Devon Collier and Cunningham both had 10 points and Ahmad Starks led all scorers with 11.
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Arizona Ends UCLA Tournament Run
By Alex Gonzalez
Los Angeles— Arizona’s Solomon Hill scored a game high 25 points in the Wildcats, 66-58, win over UCLA in the second round of the Pacific Life PAC-12 Tournament, Wednesday night in Los Angeles.
Arizona showed they weren’t nervous in their first game of the tournament and jumped out to a quick lead.
The Wildcats led by as many as 10 points, but UCLA fought back to within six before intermission.
Led by both Jerime Anderson and Lazeric “Zeke” Jones scored six points apiece to help the Bruins to keep it close.
Hill was the only player to score in double figures for Arizona. He dropped 14 points and pulled down six rebounds in the first half.
“Those guys are physically bigger then us height-wise,” said Hill.
Jesse Perry aided Hill in the Wildcat victory. The senior was second in scoring for the cats, dropping 16 points and pulling down 12 boards for the game.
“Rebounding, staying together and having an attack mentality,” said Perry. “Attacking the glass attacking the defensive glass and the offensive glass period. It’s opened up a lot of shots for us. So that’s really what we do.”
Arizona’s bigs were able to sustain the defensive glass and out rebound the Bruins throughout the game.
UCLA’s bigs could not find a way to slow Hill down. The 6’8″ power forward was a force down low, UCLA’s Wear twins could not control him.
Josh smith was a factor for the Bruins but, he fouled out early in the second half.
With the win, Arizona will play Oregon state in the first game of the semis. The Beaver’s defeated top seeded Washington earlier in the day.
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