Arizona advances after victory over Huskies

Josh Green scored 19 points, Nico Mannion added 14, and Arizona opened the Pac-12 tournament with a 77-70 victory over Washington on Wednesday.

The fifth-seeded Wildcats (21-11) bounced back from an ugly home loss to Washington four days ago with a dominating start to the second half. Arizona held the No. 12 seed Huskies (15-17) without a field goal in the opening 6 1/2 minutes of the half, stretching a five-point lead to 15 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Dylan Smith had 14 points and six assists for the Wildcats, who move on to face No. 4 seed UCLA in today’s semifinals.

Washington shot 3 for 23 from the 3-point arc and had 19 turnovers to end a once-promising season with a thud.

Isaiah Stewart led the Huskies with 29 points and 12 rebounds.

The Huskies were the last-place team no one wanted to face.

Picked third in the Pac12 preseason poll, Washington failed to live up to expectations before starting to click the final two weeks of the regular season. The Huskies won three of their final four games, including a difficult road sweep of the Arizona schools.

Washington closed out the regular season with a 69-63 win at Arizona’s McKale Center. Arizona struggled against Washington’s

zone in that game but was much more efficient against it.

LUCAS HITS LATE 3, OREGON STATE BEATS UTAH >> Jarod Lucas hit a 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds left, and Oregon State withstood Alfonso Plummer’s conference-record 11 3-pointers to beat Utah 71-69 in the opening round of the Pac12 tournament.

No. 8 seed Utah (16-15) led by 14 early in the second half behind Plummer. Making his second start in place of Rylan Jones (concussion protocol), the junior guard was one shy of Klay Thompson’s tournament record of eight 3-pointers in the first half and finished 11 of 16 from the arc overall. He had 35 points.

Tres Tinkle had 19 points and Lucas 12 to help the Beavers (18-13) move on to today’s quarterfinals against top-seeded Oregon. TOURNAMENTS GOING

AHEAD WITHOUT FANS >> The Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big 12 and Big Ten basketball tournaments will proceed without fans beginning with today’s games, following the lead of the NCAA Tournament in barring anybody but family and essential personnel. Each conference started Wednesday’s tournament games with fans in attendance.

In the Big Ten tournament, Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg left the Huskers’ 89-64 loss to Indiana early after feeling ill and reports say he was taken to a hospital to get checked.