Ducks alone in first place

Johnathan Loyd scored all 11 of his points in the second half, Damyean Dotson finished with 13 and No. 23 Oregon snapped a two-game road losing streak with a 65-52 win over Washington on Wednesday night in Seattle.

The Ducks (20-5, 9-3 Pac-12) had dropped three of four, losing their grasp on sole possession of first place in the conference. They regained it for at least for 24 hours, moving a half-game ahead of Arizona and UCLA, who both play tonight.

Oregon played its sixth straight game without Dominic Artis, out with a foot injury. The Ducks continued to stumble offensively without their starting point guard, but their defensive effort was enough to hand Washington its seventh loss in eight games. It was the first time Oregon has swept Washington in the regular season since 1995.

Abdul Gaddy led Washington (13-12, 5-7) with 17 points.

Oregon got a scare it didn’t need when Loyd was fouled jumping for pass with 1:36 left. As he came down his left knee buckled and he stayed down on the floor for about a minute before walking very slowly to the Ducks’ bench. He eventually walked off the floor on his own with only a slight limp.

The victory gave the Ducks 20 victories for the 14th time in school history. It would have come sooner if Oregon hadn’t stumbled with consecutive road losses at Stanford and California, followed by a home loss to Colorado. Oregon got back on track by beating Utah at home Saturday.

Washington leading scorer C.J. Wilcox continued to struggle. He missed his first six shots and finished 3 of 13 for nine points. Wilcox has been bothered by a foot problem that has limited his practice time. Washington shot just 35 percent and its 52 points tied for the third-fewest in a game during Lorenzo Romar’s tenure as coach.

The loss was Washington’s largest in conference play and continued a surprising slide after beginning the Pac-12 season 4-0.

Utah 60, Arizona State 55: Jason Washburn tied a career high with 26 points on 9-of-12 shooting and the Runnin’ Utes (13-12, 3-9) beat the Sun Devils (18-7, 7-5) in Salt Lake City.

The victory avenged a 55-54 overtime loss in Tempe on Jan. 2.

Washburn had 19 points, 18 rebounds, and four blocks in the first game.

His reverse layup put Utah ahead 54-53 late, then two free throws with 25 seconds remaining helped seal Wednesday’s victory.

Carrick Felix led ASU with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Jahii Carson added 12 points but was called for a charge with 17 seconds left and the Sun Devils down by three.

Jared DuBois’ ensuing free throws provided the final margin.

The Devils led 49-41 with 7:17 remaining but were outscored 19-6 the rest of the way.

ASU trailed 29-22 at halftime, tying its lowest first-half output.