Franks leads Wash. State past Arizona

TUCSON — Make it an unexpected desert sweep for Robert Franks and the Washington State Cougars.

Franks matched his career high for the second straight game with 34 points and Washington State ended a 13-game losing streak against Arizona by beating the Wildcats 69-55 on Saturday night.

“Once we get it figured out, which we did, we’re a pretty good team,” Franks said.

Washington State (10-4, 3-8 Pac-12) won at Arizona State on Thursday, sweeping the Arizona schools on the road for the first time since the 2006-07 season and won in Tucson for the first time since Jan. 8, 2010.

“This trip gave us an opportunity to find out who we are,” Cougars coach Ernie Kent said. “... We literally fed off our opponents’ crowds to get our game to another level. The key thing now is to keep it at that level now that know, have seen and experienced the blueprint.”

Arizona (14-10, 5-6) never led in its fifth straight loss, the Wildcats’ longest losing streak since 1983-84, Lute Olson’s first season as coach.

“We don’t have a lot of confidence right now,” Wildcats coach Sean Miller said.