Thursday, January 12, 2012

Arizona survives against Oregon State in OT, 81-73

Thursday's game featured some stellar guard play from the top players in the conference. OSU was led by their dynamic scorer, Jared Cunningham, as they came to the McKale Center looking for a win. The Beavs gave everything the Cats could handle as they toojk a 28-26 halftime lead by quieting Arizona's top two leading scorers in Jesse Perry and Solomon Hill, but the guards stepped up big time for the Cats. Arizona went 12-22 beyond the arc as Nick Johnson, Kyle Fogg, and Brendan Lavender scored 19, 23, and 18 points to tie the game and send it to OT. The Beavers nearly won in regulation as Ahmad Starks went on a scoring rampage, but his buzzer beater rimmed out and the game went to OT at the McKale Center. Arizona would outscore OSU 9-1 in the five minute period, but a lot happened in the short time period other than scoring. Foggy just made a great lay-up over Cunningham and was fouled, which essentially iced the game. However, the two got in a scuffle and four technicals were handed out, two for each team. The Cats would hang on to win and improve to 12-5.