Pac-12 roundup: No. 5 Arizona pulls away for win over Cal

LAS VEGAS – Arizona was unable to get much of a flow against California’s physical defense in the first half.

Once the Wildcats got rolling, there was no stopping them.

Stanley Johnson had 19 points, Brandon Ashley added 15 and No. 5 Arizona ran away from Cal in the second half for a 73-51 victory in the Pac-12 tournament quarterfinals Thursday.

“The familiarity, the intensity (of conference tournaments) can sometimes catch you off-guard,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said. “I don’t know if it necessarily caught us off-guard, in the first half, but we really regained who we are in the second half.”

Top-seeded Arizona (29-3) had trouble shaking the Bears in a rough first half before taking control with a run sparked by its defense early in the second.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson had 10 points, six rebounds and was the catalyst for Arizona’s defense.

T.J. McConnell added 13 points and six rebounds for the Wildcats. They will face UCLA in the semifinals. UCLA beat Southern California 96-70.

“They played well in the first half and we kind of stagnated,” McConnell said. “Credit Cal for that, but we made the plays when we needed to.”

No. 8 seed Cal (18-15) played better than it did in two blowout losses to Arizona during the regular season, but faded after the Wildcats made their second-half run.

Tyrone Wallace had 19 points to lead the Bears, who shot 34 percent. David Kravish had 12 rebounds, but was held to six points on 3-of-13 shooting.

“It’s tough when you don’t establish a post presence,” Cal coach Cuonzo Martin said. “We need spacing around the floor and move the ball out of the post to find shooters.”

Arizona won its second straight Pac-12 regular-season title and is trying to add something that had been elusive: The conference tournament title.

The Wildcats have reached the title game three times in Miller’s six seasons, but have not won the championship since 2002, when Luke Walton was tournament MVP.

Oregon 93, Colorado 85: Joseph Young scored 30 points, Elgin Cook added 20 and the Ducks (24-8) held on to defeat the Buffaloes (15-17).

Second-seeded Oregon broke out from a tight game with its pressure defense, creating a string of turnovers to build an 18-point second-half lead.

Jalil Abdul-Bassit added 15 points for Oregon, which scored 27 points off Colorado’s 13 turnovers.

Young, the Pac-12 player of the year, also had seven rebounds and four assists.

(17) Utah 80, Stanford 56: Delon Wright scored 20 points, Jordan Loveridge added 18 and the Utes (24-7) ran away from the Cardinal (19-13) in the second half.

The third-seeded Utes hit 14 of 28 shots in the second half and were 12 of 19 from 3-point range overall to earn a spot in today’s semifinals against second-seeded Oregon.

Utah also turned up the defensive pressure in the final 20 minutes, holding the Cardinal to 6-of-24 shooting. Jakob Poeltl added 16 points for the Utes.

Stanford fought off an upset in the opening round, but faded against the fresher Utes in the second half.

Chasson Randle had 22 points and Stefan Nastic added 11 for the Cardinal, who scored 17 second-half points.

UCLA 96, USC 70: Isaac Hamilton scored 36 points and hit seven 3-pointers, helping the Bruins (20-12) rout the rival Trojans (12-19).

UCLA stepped on the Trojans from the start and didn’t let up to rout USC for the third time this season. The Bruins shot 60 percent and made 12 of 20 3-pointers to earn a spot in the semifinals against No. 5 Arizona.

Hamilton made 13 of 17 shots and was 7 for 9 from the 3-point arc.

Katin Reinhardt led the Trojans with 20 points.