TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Azuolas Tubelis scored 21 points, Oumar Ballo had 12 points and 12 rebounds, and No. 5 Arizona withstood a second-half comeback by Arizona State for a 69-60 victory Saturday.
Kerr Kriisa had 12 points and five assists for the Wildcats (13-1, 2-1 Pac-12), who won their fifth straight in the series. They entered averaging 90.2 points per game, second in Division I.
The Sun Devils (11-3, 2-1) scored 19 of the first 23 points of the second half after going to a full-court press and cut the deficit to 49-47 with 13 minutes left. Arizona responded with a 10-3 run to regain control.
Frankie Collins had 12 points to lead Arizona State and Devan Cambridge added nine.
The Wildcats made 24 of 28 free-throws attempts. Arizona State was 7 of 10. The Sun Devils missed their first 13 3-point field-goal attempts and were 3 of 27 from behind the arc. Neither team shot 40% from the field.
Tubelis has scored in double figures in all 14 games.
Ballo’s foul-line jumper, his first basket of the game, gave Arizona a 30-14 lead with 6:19 remaining in the first half, forcing an Arizona State timeout. As the teams headed to their benches, Kriisa said “be quiet” as looked toward the ASU student section.
The Wildcats led by as many as 18 points in the first half.
BIG PICTURE
Arizona looked every bit a top-five team in the first half, but the Wildcats had surprising difficulty against Arizona State’s full-court press in the second half. The Sun Devils could have found their way back into the AP Top 25 with a win. Regardless, they will remain a contender in the Pac-12 because of a harassing defense that had limited opponents to 36.7% shooting from the floor coming in.
UP NEXT
Arizona: The Wildcats begin Pac-12 play in earnest with a home series against Washington and Washington State on Thursday-Saturday.
Arizona State: The Sun Devils also play host to the Washington schools next weekend.
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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
