LOS ANGELES — Freshman guard Nick Johnson led an Arizona 14-2 run to open the second half and the Wildcats overcame a seven-point halftime deficit to beat Oregon State 72-61 and advance to the Pac-12 Conference Tournament final.

The Wildcats will play either Colorado or California on Saturday at 3 p.m. PST and the game will be televised nationally by CBS.

“Sometimes as a coach you have a feel that your guys have been there before,” UA head coach Sean Miller said. “When you’re at halftime and you’re before the game, and you’re playing these elimitation games, it certainly helps to have a team or individual players that have done that and been there before.”

The Beavers closed the first half on a 20-4 run after Arizona took a lead early in the game, but Johnson either scored or assisted on the Wildcats’ first 14 points of the second half — a run that catapulted them to a five-point lead that they wouldn’t give up.

Oregon State missed eight of its first nine shots in the second half while Arizona connected on five of its first six.

Johnson scored nine points and dished out a team-high five assists. Senior guard Kyle Fogg led Arizona with 22 points and Jesse Perry notched a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Junior forward Solomon Hill chipped in with 12 points and three rebounds before fouling out on a technical foul with 5:30 to play.

“We’ve become a team of great balance,” Miller said.

Oregon State guard Jared Cunningham scored 14 points on 5-of-13 shooting and speedy guard Ahmad Starks was held to four points on 1-of-7 shooting. OSU forward Devon Collier led the Beavers with 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting.

Arizona shot 47.1 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3-point range. The Beavers were held to 37.7 percent shooting on the evening.

Check back with DailyWildcat.com for full coverage of Arizona’s run to the Pac-12 Conference Tournament title game.