2/23/2013

Cats Down Washington State, 73-56

Parron nets season-high 19 on 5-of-6 shooting from three-point range

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - Kevin Parrom matched his career best with five 3 pointers - in six tries - scoring a season-high 19 points and leading No. 12 Arizona past Washington State 73-56 on Saturday.

Parrom, a 26 percent shooter from 3-point range in conference play before Saturday, opened the game with two 3s and the Wildcats (23-4, 11-4 Pac-12) led all the way. Arizona was up by as many as 21 points early in the second half before the Cougars cut it to 11 late.

Mark Lyons added 14 points and freshman Kaleb Tarczewski had a career-best 12 for the Wildcats, who began the day tied with Oregon atop the Pac-12.

Brock Motum scored 20 points but missed six free throws for the last-place Cougars (11-17, 2-13), who lost their eighth straight. DaVonte Lacy added 10 points, eight in the second half.

Shortly after Parrom's two 3s made it 6-0, the Cougars went exactly 10 minutes without a field goal, resulting in a 14-2 Arizona run that put the Wildcats up 20-7 on Solomon Hill's 15-footer with 8:45 left in the half.

D.J. Shelton's layup with 8:20 to play ended the drought but Washington State never cut it to single digits again.

Angelo Chol's 15-footer made it 26-12 with 5:24 to go in the half, then Tarczewski's three-point play with 32.6 seconds remaining put Arizona up 35-19 at the half.

Washington State shot 35 percent and committed eight turnovers in the first half. And the Cougars were just 5 of 11 from the foul line in the opeing 20 minutes.

Arizona freshmen Tarczewski, Grant Jerrett and Brandon Ashley had 19 points, matching the total for the entire Washington State team, in the first half on 7 of 10 shooting.

The second half got off to a magnificent start for Arizona, then went downhill from there.

An 8-2 spurt put the Wildcats 42-21 on Lyons' layup with 16:47 left.

But the Cougars went on a 10-0 run to cut it to 43-31 when Brett Boese sank a 3 with 12:47 to play.

After an Arizona timeout, Parrom drove the baseline for a reverse layup to boost the lead to 45-31, ending a 4:23 scoreless drought for the Wildcats. Nick Johnson's two free throws made it 47-31, but Lacy's 3-pointer sliced the lead to 47-34, then he made a drive to the basket to cut it to 47-36 with 9:08 remaining. Lacy was fouled on the play but missed the free throw.

Ashley's 14-footer from the baseline put Arizona up 49-36.

Washington State cut it to 11 two more times and Parrom responded with 3s on both occasions, the latter making it 55-41 with 6:26 left. Parrom's final 3 put Arizona up 58-42 with 5:50 to go.