Bennedict Mathurin scored 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting to lead No. 4 Arizona to a 72-60 victory over Washington State in a Pac-12 game Thursday in Pullman, Wash.
Azuolas Tubelis had 15 points and Oumar Ballo added 10 in Arizona’s 10th straight win in Pullman. The Wildcats (21-2, 11-1 Pac-12) won their fifth consecutive game.
Dalen Terry finished with 12 rebounds to lead Arizona to a 46-31 rebounding edge.
Michael Flowers led Washington State with 16 points and Noah Williams finished with 10, but the Cougars (14-8, 7-4) saw their five-game winning streak end.
Washington State’s Mouhamed Gueye, who earned Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors this week for the third time this season, departed the game with 7:13 left with an injured left ankle. He finished with nine points and five rebounds.
Arizona took a 33-16 lead with 1:37 remaining in the first half, thanks to a 13-0 run that started with a 3-pointer by Pelle Larsson and included two more by Kerr Kriisa.
The Cougars scored eight unanswered points between the first and second halves to cut the deficit to 33-24 with 18:14 left.
Efe Abogidi scored the first seven points of the second half for Washington State, which outscored Arizona 13-4 to cut the deficit to 37-33 with 15:58 left.
The Cougars trailed 43-37 with 13:27 remaining after Flowers scored seven straight Washington State points.
Arizona then took over with an 11-2 run, culminating on a 3-pointer by Mathurin with 10:35 left to increase the lead to 54-39.
Mathurin and Justin Kier each made 3-pointers and scored five points in 10-0 run to stretch the lead to 64-42 with 7:51 remaining.
The Wildcats limited Washington State to 8 of 32 (25 percent) from 3-point range. The Cougars entered the game second in the Pac-12 in 3-pointers (188), trailing only Utah (192).
Arizona tallied 17 assists on 28 field goals. Terry led Arizona with five assists while Mathurin had four.
The Wildcats struggled with 18 turnovers, which led to 24 points for Washington State.
–Field Level Media
