Johnson scores 25 as Wildcats edge OSU

Arizona Wildcats Basketball


It is always a good day when the Arizona Wildcats win and the Duke Blue Devils lose.

The third-ranked Wildcats fought off the Beavers last night in Corvallis, Oregon and improved their overall record to 28-2 and their Pac-12 Conference record to 15-2 with a 74-69 win over Oregon State, while 3,000 miles away in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, it is an upset win for Wake Forest as they take down the fourth-ranked Blue Devils, 82-72.

Duke falls to 23-7 overall and 12-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Please tell me Duke will not be ranked fourth when the AP Poll comes out on Monday.

So much for the soap box, let's get back to Corvallis.

With the Pac-12 title in hand and two games left on the regular schedule, Arizona had trouble putting the Beavers away. The Wildcats led at the half 36-33 and didn't pull away from the Beavers until the final minute of play, thanks to three key free throws from Nick Johnson, who ended the night with 25 points to go along with six rebounds and four assists.

Arizona made it a little more interesting by missing 11 of 30 free throws, while being out rebounded, 43-34. To the Wildcats credit, they turned the ball over just eight times, while the Beavers fell victim to Arizona's tough defense and turned the ball over 17 times.

Once again Arizona received balanced scoring as Rondae Hollis-Jefferson chipped in 13 points, while Kaleb Tarczewski and Gabe York added 12 points apiece. T.J. McConnell scored four points and dished out eight assists, while Aaron Gordon tallied eight points.

And now it's on to Eugene for the final game of the regular season on Saturday against the Oregon Ducks.

Go get 'em, Wildcats!