BERKELEY, Calif. — Taylor Rochestie scored 18 points, Kyle Weaver added 17 and defense-minded No. 22 Washington State showed off its offensive skills as well in a 70-49 victory over California on Thursday night.
The Cougars (22-6, 10-6 Pac-10) shot 54 percent, going 8-for-17 on 3-pointers to win for the fifth time in six games with one of their best offensive performances in conference play this season.
Everything came easy for Washington State against the Golden Bears (15-11, 6-9). The Cougars even scored on a rare alley-oop pass from Rochestie to Robbie Cowgill to take a 64-46 lead with less than seven minutes to go.
The Cougars’ defense also shone as usual in a matchup between the conference’s highest-scoring and stingiest teams. Cal played from behind after missing seven of its first eight shots. The Bears never found their touch from long distance, missing 16 of 18 3-pointers
The Bears shot 37 percent overall and finished 28 points below their conference leading scoring average of 77.8 points per game.
Instead it was the Cougars who had the outside shot working. Derrick Low hit consecutive 3s midway through the second half to give Washington State a 53-38 lead. Rochestie added his fourth 3 a few minutes later and the Cougars coasted to the win.
Low finished with 15 points and Aron Baynes added 10 before fouling out for the Cougars, who remained in third place in the conference, a half-game ahead of Southern California.
Ryan Anderson scored 17 points to lead Cal, but shot just 5-for-15. The Cougars did an outstanding job shutting down the Bears’ second-leading scorer, Patrick Christopher, who had two points on 1-for-6 shooting.
By losing for the fourth time in five games, the Bears’ probably need to win the Pac-10 tournament next month to have any shot at making the NCAA tournament. Cal fell to 2-6 at home in conference play.
Other games
UCLA 70, Arizona State 49: At Tempe, Ariz., Kevin Love had 18 points and 12 rebounds for his 17th double-double, and the No. 4 Bruins defeated the Sun Devils. Darren Collison and Josh Shipp each added 17 points for the Bruins (25-3, 13-2 Pac-10), who have won nine of 10 and maintained their one-game lead over No. 8 Stanford in the conference race. It was UCLA’s eighth straight win over the Sun Devils. The Bruins drubbed Arizona State by a combined 54 points in the two-game season series. The Sun Devils (17-10, 7-8) had hoped to spring an upset and solidify their bid for their first NCAA tournament berth since 2003. But they struggled against the Bruins’ defense, which allows 57.9 points per game, sixth in the nation. USC 70, Arizona 58: At Tucson, Ariz., O.J. Mayo scored 20 points and the Trojans withstood a comeback to hand the Wildcats their fifth home loss of the season. In a matchup of two of the game’s best freshmen, Mayo got the better of Arizona’s Jerryd Bayless, who matched his season low of eight points, 13 below his season average. The Wildcats’ other top scorer, Chase Budinger, scored just seven points. Davon Jefferson had 15 points and 14 rebounds and 14 rebounds for the Trojans (18-9, 9-6 Pac-10), who never trailed and led by as many as 16 in the first half. Taj Gibson added 14 points and Dwight Lewis 11. The loss was a setback in the Wildcats’ (17-11, 7-8) bid for their 24th consecutive NCAA tournament berth, the longest active streak in major college basketball and second-longest ever behind North Carolina’s 27.
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