PULLMAN, Wash. — Jahii Carson scored 25 points, 21 in the second half, and Arizona State defeated Washington State 63-59 on Thursday night for its third straight victory.
Evan Gordon had 13 points and Carrick Felix had 11 points — all in the second half — and 11 rebounds for the Sun Devils (17-4, 6-2 Pac-12), who overcame 4-for-11 free-throw shooting and a nine-point Washington State first-half lead.
Royce Woolridge scored 16 points, 15 after halftime, to lead the Cougars (11-10, 2-6). Mike Ladd had 14 points, and Brock Motum matched Felix with 11 points and 11 boards. Dexter Kernich-Drew scored 10 points for Washington State.
The Sun Devils are 6-2 in the conference for the first time since 1994, and are off to their best start since 1981, when ASU began 19-2 behind Byron Scott, Fat Lever and Alton Lister.
Neither team led by more than nine points in the game, which featured 10 lead changes, and Washington State was ahead 28-24 at halftime.
ASU was ahead 58-51 but Woolridge had five points in a 7-0 run that drew the Cougars even.
Carson’s three-point play put the Sun Devils back on top, and after a Cougar free throw, Carson scored with 16 seconds to play for the final margin.
Carson and Felix accounted for all but five of Arizona State’s second-half points.
The Sun Devils committed only four turnovers in the game — none by guards Carson, Felix and Gordon. Washington State was 7 of 14 from 3-point range in the first half but just 2 of 9 the rest of the way.
California 71, Oregon St. 68
BERKELEY, Calif. — Richard Solomon’s dunk with 17.6 seconds remaining capped a big run by California over the final 8 minutes and the Golden Bears rallied from 12 points down in the second half to beat Oregon State.
Allen Crabbe had 15 points and eight rebounds, while Justin Cobbs added 14 points and matched his season high of seven assists to help fifth-year California coach Mike Montgomery to his 100th career victory at the school.
The Golden Bears (12-8, 4-4 Pac-12) trailed most of the second half and were down 59-53 before Crabbe and Cobbs combined to score 12 of Cal’s final 18 points.
Roberto Nelson scored 25 points for Oregon State (11-10, 1-7). The Beavers had two chances to score after Solomon’s basket but failed to get a shot off.
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