Arizona rolls past Washington State
Jan 16, 2016, 10:39 PM | Updated: 10:39 pm
TUCSON, Ariz. — Ryan Anderson had 15 points, eight rebounds and a blocked shot that sparked a decisive first-half run, and No. 18 Arizona continued its dominance of Washington State with a 90-66 victory Saturday night.
Parker Jackson-Cartwright added 13 points and seven assists for the Wildcats (15-3, 3-2). They extended the nation’s longest home winning streak to 49 games by beating the Cougars (9-8, 1-4) for the ninth straight time.
Ike Iroegbu scored 13 points and Josh Hawkinson added 12 points and eight rebounds for Washington State. The Cougars trailed by as many as 28 points to fall to 16-60 overall against Arizona.
After a last-second loss to UCLA and four-overtime defeat to Southern California last weekend, Arizona has shot better than 50 percent in consecutive wins without star freshman Allonzo Trier (broken hand).
Anderson’s block led a 14-5 run as Arizona surpassed 80 points for the 10th straight game.
The key sequence took seven seconds late in the first half and turned it into a rout.
Trailing 32-26, Washington State went inside to Hawkinson, but Anderson swatted his shot off the glass. Jackson-Cartwright raced the other way and lobbed a pass to Mark Tollefsen who delivered a thunderous dunk while fouled.
Anderson turned to the crowd and yelled. After a timeout, Tollefsen hit the free throw, beginning the spurt that put Arizona ahead 46-31 at halftime.
The Wildcats poured it on early in the second half, with Gabe York’s breakaway one-handed jam making it 56-33. Anderson delivered another powerful dunk that brought the crowd to its feet on a night Arizona hit 9 of 16 3-pointers.
York and Tollefsen each scored 11 points. Charles Callison had 12 for the Cougars.
TIP-INS
Washington State: Seven-footer Connor Clifford made his fourth start and first since Dec. 18 as coach Ernie Kent matched up with Arizona’s big front line. … The Cougars have dropped 11 straight road games to ranked teams.
Arizona: After playing some zone Thursday for the first time this season, the Wildcats returned to the 2-3 defense for some possessions in the first half. … Arizona football coach Rich Rodriguez chatted with Pac-12 Networks analyst Bill Walton at halftime. … The Wildcats held a 38-game winning streak in the series from 1986-2005.
THAT WAS FAST
Washington State managed seven points in the first half of a 60-25 loss in its last visit to Tucson in 2014. This time it took 3:14 for the Cougars to reach eight points and 13:15 to get to 26.
STOP WHISTLING
Iroegbu was about to attempt a free throw with 13:12 left in the first half when he heard a whistle, stopped his motion and stepped over the line. The whistle, though, came from the stands. Iroegbu was still called for a violation. The officials then told the public address announcer to warn fans about bad sportsmanship.
UP NEXT
Arizona visits Stanford on Thursday night.
