LOS ANGELES — Arizona’s road to the Pac-12 Championship just got that much easier.

No. 1 seeded-Washington, which swept the Wildcats in the regular season, fell to No. 9 seed Oregon State 86-84 in the Staples Center on Thursday afternoon.

The Huskies led 79-73 with 2:44 left but UW freshman Tony Wroten missed four straight free throws in the final 18 seconds and Washington couldn’t escape defeat.

“I give Oregon State a lot of credit,” UW head coach Lorenzo Romar said after the game. “Our guys fought back hard in the second half. We weren’t able to finish.”

While the loss knocked out Washington, it helped the Wildcats in a big way. If Arizona is able to defeat UCLA today then the Wildcats would take on the Beavers, who UA defeated 81-73 in overtime in McKale Center on Jan. 12, in the Pac-12 Tournament semi-finals.

The loss also puts Washington, the regular season conference champion, in major jeopardy of missing the NCAA Tournament. Romrar doesn’t see it that way, however.

“I’m not in their committee. I know we haven’t won as many games as we should have in non-conference as a league. I would think the Pac-12 Champion would be able to find a place in the NAA Tournament,” Romar said. “We didn’t help ourselves today but I think we would find ourselves in there.”