Arizona Silences WSU Cougars Struggle From Outside As Wildcats Rally For 72-62 Victory

So much noise. So much intensity. So many floor burns.

And in the end, so many similarities.

The noise, the intensity, the floor burns, none of that mattered Thursday night as 11th-ranked Arizona fought through an early nine-point deficit, a gnarly - even dangerous - Friel Court crowd and a truly inspired Washington State basketball team to post a 72-62 Pacific-10 Conference win.

The victory was the Wildcats’ 22nd in a row over the WSU, which probably saw its faint NCAA tournament hopes snuffed out by the loss.

The Cougars (14-10 overall and 6-9 in the Pac-10) would have to win their last three games to finish an even 9-9 in the conference. And even then, it would take an unprecedented move by the NCAA to invite a Pac-10 team no better than .500 in its league.

Arizona, which got 18 points from senior center Ben Davis and 15 each from Corey Williams and Reggie Geary, doesn’t have to worry. The Wildcats (22-5 and 11-4) didn’t gain on first-place UCLA in the Pac-10 standings, but they remained a lock for their 12th consecutive NCAA berth.

Unfortunately, all of the good things Arizona did in coming back from a 22-13 deficit midway through the first half, were nearly overshadowed by an ugly incident just 5 minutes into the second half.

Moments into a media timeout, with Arizona huddled in front of its bench, a bottle, apparently thrown from the other side of the court, struck Wildcats assistant sports information director Brett Hansen, who was sitting directly behind the team bench in the first row of the bleachers.

The bottle glanced off Hansen’s right shoulder and shattered against the bleachers right in front of Arizona coach Lute Olson’s wife, Bobbi.

Hansen was unhurt, but the incident sent Friel Court security personnel scurrying into the crowd of 7.224 in search of the culprit.

It was later announced over the public address system than an Arizona fan had offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person who threw the bottle.

The incident went unnoticed by the coaches and team involved in the game and when play resumed following the timeout, Arizona went on an 11-point run that decided the outcome.

Geary, who also finished with seven assists and only two turnovers, scored early in the run on a dunk and late on a 3-pointer from near the top of the key.

WSU, which has started out playing so hard at both ends of the floor, seemed to let its energy level drop a notch during that 4-minute span and fell behind 47-37.

Arizona built its lead to 52-39 before the Cougars regrouped and made things interesting with an 14-5 run of their own. Mark Hendrickson, who finished with a team-high 16 points, and Carlos Daniel, who added 12, each scored six during the WSU’s last surge.

But the closest the Cougars got was 57-55 before a pair of free throws by Davis and a huge 3-pointer by Joe McLean from deep in the left corner put UA up 62-55 with 1:57 left and doused any comeback hopes WSU might have still been nursing.

“We had a great deal of concentration,” WSU coach Kevin Eastman said. “Except for that 4-minute spurt in the second half when we got a little too jump-shot oriented and they kind of fed off a couple of long rebounds.

“But the storyline was simple. You can’t shoot 36 percent against a team that good and expect to win.”

The Cougars, despite their strong start, made only 24 of 66 shots and got just 25 points from their three perimeter players. Isaac Fontaine finished with 10 points - eight below his average.

Olson said he thought Davis was the difference in the second half, scoring 12 points and grabbing eight of his game-high 14 rebounds.

“Toward the end of the first half, I didn’t know if he was getting tired or if he just wasn’t getting to the boards,” Olson said. “And at halftime, I said, ‘Ben, if we are going to win this game, you have to go out and get everything that is up in the air.’

“He took that seriously, because he really got after it. I thought his game was exceptional.”

Eastman, who must now try to motivate his team for Saturday’s 3 p.m. home finale against Arizona State, was obviously concerned about the bottle-throwing incident.

“I’m not sure, really, what happened,” he said. “But it doesn’t matter who threw it - an Arizona fan, a Washington State fan or not a fan of either team - their is no place for it, anywhere.

“I have every confidence in (athletic director) Rick Dickson and our administration to get to the bottom of it, if it’s possible to get to the bottom of it, as soon as possible.”

Arizona 72, Washington St. 62

Arizona (22-5) - McLean 1-7 3-4 6, Williams 7-12 0-0 15, Davis 7-11 4-5 18, Simon 4-10 3-3 11, Geary 6-8 0-0 15, Dickerson 3-9 0-0 6, Terry 0-0 0-0 0, Bramlett 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 28-57 11-14 72.

Washington St. (14-10) - Hendrickson 7-11 2-2 16, Daniel 4-10 4-4 12, Fontaine 3-12 3-4 10, Antrum 2-11 0-0 6, Ellison 4-13 1-2 9, Jackson 0-0 0-0 0, Scott 2-6 0-0 5, Mack 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 24-66 10-12 62.

Halftime-Washington St.30, Arizona 26. 3-Point goals-Arizona 5-15 (Geary 3-4, McLean 1-3, Williams 1-4, Simon 0-2, Dickerson 0-2), Washington St. 4-21 (Antrum 2-9, Scott 1-2, Fontaine 1-5, Hendrickson 0-1, Ellison 0-4). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Arizona 40 (Davis 14), Washington St. 32 (Daniel 7). Assists-Arizona 14 (Geary 7), Washington St. 13 (Ellison 7). Total fouls-Arizona 13, Washington St. 15. A-7,224.

, DataTimes