Green, Mannion power Wildcats past Oregon St.
TUCSON – Josh Green scored 18 points and Nico Mannion scored 12 of his 16 in the second half to help No. 24 Arizona defeat Oregon State 89-63 on Thursday night.
Max Hazzard scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half and Zeke Nnaji added 13 points and seven rebounds for Arizona, which won for the sixth time in seven games.
The Wildcats (19-7 overall, 9-4 in Pac-12) made 10 more free throws than the Beavers (15-11, 5-9), with help from four technical fouls against Oregon State.
The Beavers lost leading scorer Tres Tinkle to his second technical foul with 13:17 remaining and Arizona up 52-40. Oregon State coach Wayne Tinkle, Tres’ father, was assessed a technical moments later. The Wildcats then took control with a 12-3 run to cruise to victory. Arizona avenged an 82-65 loss at Oregon State earlier in the season.
Jarod Lucas scored 18 points and Kylor Kelley added 14 points and eight rebounds for Oregon State. Tinkle entered the night averaging 18.3 points per contest, but he was held to 10.
Oregon State committed 21 turnovers to lose for the third time in five games.
The Beavers turned the ball over four times in the first four minutes.
A steal and dunk from Green gave the Wildcats a 10-2 lead at the 16:01 mark.
Oregon State went almost five minutes between baskets early in the game, but trimmed an 11-point deficit to 19-15 on a layup by Ethan Thompson with 9:33 to go.
Christian Koloko’s dunk out of a timeout gave Arizona a 35-22 lead, the Wildcats’ largest lead of the first half. Green scored 13 points before the break to give Arizona a 40-30 lead. Nnaji’s two free throws with 15:34 left gave Arizona a 47-34 lead early in the second half, and the Wildcats maintained control from there.
Big picture
Oregon State: Plenty of observers felt the Beavers had the experience and talent to be an NCAA tournament team this season, but it appears they will have to go on an epic run in February and March to get in.
Arizona: The Wildcats still could win the conference regular season title, with a home game against Oregon and home games against Washington State and Washington to end the regular season.