The new home winning streak is now at one after the Arizona Wildcats took care of business against the Oregon State Beavers, winning 80-63.
Gabe York had a huge night for the Wildcats, knocking down a career best six 3-pointers and finishing the night with 24 points and seven rebounds. Ryan Anderson added 13 points and 12 rebounds for Arizona, who rebounded from Thursday’s tough loss to the Oregon Ducks.
“Emotionally, it was a great win for us. I think we all got a lot of our confidence back,” York said. “Coach challenged us and for me, I took that to heart. I took it upon myself to be a better captain and leader. Tonight, my teammates found me, and give them a lot of credit, in open areas to knock shots down and tonight I did.”
The Wildcats took a four point lead into halftime, holding the Beavers to 38 percent shooting from the field in the first half. York scored 14 of his points in the first half while shooting 4-5 from three.
“We couldn’t find York. Man or zone we kept saying we can’t help off of him,” Oregon State head coach Wayne Tinkle said. “We got out of character there in the second half, defensively and then we stopped running offense.”
Both teams battled with runs throughout the second half. Arizona, however, never gave up its lead throughout the half. The defense continued to sharpen up to as the Wildcats forced seven second-half turnovers. Overall, Arizona forced the Beavers into shooting 40 percent from the field and 33 percent from three. Oregon State also only went 6-8 from the free throw line while the Wildcats shot 15-19.
“Just give credit to my teammates. They did a great job of putting me in a great spot in the 2-3 zone that they played,” York said. “For me, when a team plays 30 to 35 minutes of a 2-3 zone, that’s like giving candy to a baby. It’s shots that I’m going to knock down more times than not.”
Just like they did against Oregon, Arizona jumped out to a quick lead with some hot shooting from York. With within the first six minutes of the game, Arizona had a 14-6 lead over the Beavers.
OSU came back with a 12-1 run of their own to take an 18-15 lead. Once the Beavers took a 20-19, Arizona came alive with an 11-2 run led by a couple of 3s from York and another from Parker Jackson-Cartwright.
“For us, Gabe York’s shooting broke the game open and he’s done it a number of times,” Arizona head coach Sean Miller said. “There aren’t many shooters in this country that are better. I love the fact that he also had seven rebounds. We got a complete game from Parker. It just seems when Parker plays very well, our team is that much better.”
The Wildcats will be traveling up north for rematches against the Washington schools this week. They will play Washington State on Wednesday and the Washington Huskies on Saturday.
