No. 10 Arizona bounces back against Oregon State

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) _ Five days after its 12-game winning streak ended, No. 10 Arizona wanted to start another roll. <br/><br/>Enter Oregon State, winless in Pac-10 play. <br/><br/>Marcus Williams scored

Friday, January 12th 2007, 6:05 am

By: News On 6

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) _ Five days after its 12-game winning streak ended, No. 10 Arizona wanted to start another roll.

Enter Oregon State, winless in Pac-10 play.

Marcus Williams scored a career-high 27 points and the Wildcats jumped on the Beavers early in an 83-72 victory Thursday night.

Arizona (13-2, 4-1) won a game it was supposed to win, but the Wildcats know they need to play more consistently when 15th-ranked Oregon visits Sunday night _ and they need to find more production from their reserves.

``We had a lot of spurts out there,'' Mustafa Shakur said. ``We just need to put it together for 40 minutes. If we can continue with that energy for 40 minutes, then we'll be good.''

But that's the problem: Arizona's energy level ebbs at times. Perhaps that's to be expected on a team whose starters each average more than 30 minutes per game.

The Wildcats' starting five _ guards Shakur and Jawann McClellan and forwards Chase Budinger, Ivan Radenovic and Williams _ is as formidable as any in the country. But their subs are unreliable at best.

Although the Beavers (8-9, 0-4) whittled a 22-point deficit to nine late in the game, the lack of depth didn't hurt Arizona against the overmatched opponent. It figures to become a problem against better, deeper teams.

``We're going to have to cut back on some of the minutes for some of the starters because I'm not sure we can keep that kind of enthusiasm for that long,'' coach Lute Olson said.

Against the Beavers, four reserves played a total of 20 minutes. The best contribution came from little-used forward Fendi Onobun, who scored seven points in 6 minutes. He had scored eight points in his first six games.

In other games involving ranked teams Thursday night, it was: No. 15 Oregon 60, Arizona State 55; No. 19 Nevada 72, San Jose State 63; No. 20 Memphis 79, Houston 69; and No. 22 Washington State 73, California 56.

Arizona needs its reserves to begin producing quickly because the Wildcats are wading into the toughest part of their schedule. After playing host to the Ducks, the Wildcats travel to Los Angeles to face Southern California and No. 4 UCLA, which came into Thursday night tied for the conference lead.

Arizona comes home to face Arizona State and then plays host to top-ranked North Carolina on Jan. 27. No. 22 Washington State visits McKale Center the following week.

``We have good competition all year,'' Shakur said.

It might be hard for the Wildcats to turn up their game and go after a high seed in the NCAA tournament if their starters wear down.

Steady seniors Shakur and Ivan Radenovic each committed five turnovers against the Beavers, a sign they may be tiring. Radenovic attributed his mistakes _ and his 1-for-4 shooting from beyond the 3-point arc _ to a lapse in concentration. Shakur also denied he's tired.

Olson said he's more worried about his starters' defense than their minutes. No matter how long they play, he said, they have to work harder on the defensive end.

``I keep saying that defense is a full-time job and we have some guys who think that it is a part-time job,'' Olson said. ``Unfortunately, in some of those situations, some of our top offensive guys aren't doing the job defensively that we need to have. Until we can be consistent on the defensive end, we are not going to be consistent at all.''

No. 15 Oregon 60, Arizona State 55

Aaron Brooks scored 11 of his 16 points in the second half, including a pair of clinching free throws with 3.6 seconds to play, for visiting Oregon.

The Ducks (15-1, 3-1 Pac-10) led by as many as 15 points in the second half before the Sun Devils (6-10, 0-5) rallied to cut it to three.

Bryce Taylor also scored 16 for Oregon. Arizona State's Jeff Pendergraph had 18 points and nine rebounds.

No. 19 Nevada 72, San Jose State 63

At San Jose, Calif., Marcelus Kemp scored 21 of his season-high 33 points in the first half to help Nevada overcome the absence of star forward Nick Fazekas.

The Wolf Pack (15-1, 3-0 Western Athletic Conference) won their eighth straight overall and ninth in a row against San Jose State (1-14, 0-3).

Menelik Barbary led the Spartans with 23 points and Carlton Spencer added 16.

No. 20 Memphis 79, Houston 69

Chris Douglas-Roberts scored 16 points and Joey Dorsey grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked three shots for visiting Memphis (12-3, 2-0 Conference USA), which has won four in a row and six of seven.

Robert McKiver scored 27 points for Houston (5-8, 0-1).

No. 22 Washington State 73, California 56

Kyle Weaver had 14 points, a career-high 10 assists and six rebounds, and Washington State won playing as a ranked team for the first time in nearly 24 years.

Daven Harmeling had 14 points and seven rebounds and Derrick Low added 11 points and six assists in the Cougars' fourth straight victory and eighth in nine games. Washington State (15-2, 4-1 Pac-10) ended a four-game losing to Cal and got its first victory at Berkeley since Jan. 4, 2004.

Ryan Anderson had 17 points and eight rebounds to lead the Golden Bears (10-6, 2-2).