No. 3 Arizona pulls away in 2nd half to beat Oregon State

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Azuolas Tubelis scored 22 points, Bennedict Mathurin added 20 and No. 3 Arizona pulled away in the second half to beat Oregon State 83-69 on State on Thursday night.

The Wildcats (23-2, 13-1 Pac-12) have won seven straight and maintained a two-game advantage in the conference. Christian Koloko added 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting and had nine rebounds.

Oregon State (3-21, 1-13) has lost 11 straight, going winless since beating Utah on Dec. 30. The Beavers have had a tough time with injuries this season and had just seven scholarship players available on Thursday.

Even so, they put up quite a fight in the first half. Warith Alatishe made a corner 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to cut Arizona's advantage to 44-42 going into the break.

But the Wildcats quickly pulled away in the second half, pushing ahead 57-45 in less than four minutes after Koloko's dunk. Arizona shot 52.5% from the field and had a 42-32 rebounding advantage.

Ramon Silva and Jarod Lucas led Oregon State with 13 points each.

BIG PICTURE

Oregon State: It was a solid effort for much of the night from the Beavers, who still haven't been able to win a game in 2022. They've been competitive in a lot of games but simply get overmatched in the talent department by teams like Arizona.

Arizona: It wasn't the best game for the Wildcats, particularly on defense in the first half, but they shook off Oregon State's early run to pull away for the comfortable win. Arizona's offense can come from a lot of different places, especially when Mathurin, Koloko, Tubelis are all on the floor.

UP NEXT

Oregon State: At Arizona State on Saturday.

Arizona: Host Oregon on Saturday.

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