Wildcats win a prelude to Stanford

 

The name on the visitor's side of the scoreboard may have said Oregon State but it may as well have said "Not Stanford." 

That's because as far as Arizona was concerned yesterday, the Beavers were merely a tune-up for Thursday's long-awaited showdown with the fifth-ranked Cardinal. While the Wildcats' lackluster 93-80 win at McKale Center wasn't exactly a resounding message, it was a message none the less. 

Bring on the Cardinal. 

"It's going to be a fun trip. We're going to show them why we're defending national champions," Arizona point guard Mike Bibby said. 

To do that, the Wildcats will have to rebound. And that means A.J. Bramlett and Michael Dickerson will need to have another game like yesterday's when they had eight and six rebounds respectively. Additionally, Eugene Edgerson and Bennett Davison need to do better than their numbers - Edgerson with two, Davison with four. 

"For us to have a chance, we need to come close on the boards," Arizona head coach Lute Olson said. "We need to get Gene and Bennett involved." 

Oregon State battled the Wildcats all afternoon and stayed close in the second half thanks to 58 percent shooting from the field. Corey Benjamin led all scorers with 24 points to help his team's cause. 

But if anything, UA proved that it can win ugly if it has to. 

And it didn't get any uglier than Benjamin's vicious in-your-face dunk on UA sophomore Josh Pastner in the waning moments of the game. 

"It was a sick sight," said Miles Simon, who actually left the bench laughing after witnessing the spectacle. "He should have just gotten out of the way." 

In the first half, Arizona actually found itself down 20-14 but then went on a 27-10 run to close the half with a 41-30 lead. The Wildcats grabbed their biggest lead of the game - 22 points - after a two by Bibby. From that point, the 14, 525 in attendance started thinking Super Bowl XXXII. 

Arizona was led by Simon's 23 points but it was senior Michael Dickerson's 19 points and six rebounds - five of them offensive - that seemed to provide the biggest lift for the Wildcats. 

"We need to get Mike D. equally physical on the defensive glass," Olson said. 

A.J. Bramlett added 14 points to go with his rebounding output. Jason Terry came off the bench to get 10 points and six assists. Each Wildcat starter got more minutes than in recent games on UA's 10-game winning streak, where blowouts meant starters were on the bench with much of the second half remaining. 

And as far as Olson was concerned, he was glad to get a tough game out of the Beavers rather than another 20-point win. 

"At least this way maybe we learn something from it," he said. 

With the loss, the Beavers fell to 10-9 and 1-7 in Pacific 10 Conference. The sixth-ranked Wildcats ran their record to 17-3 overall and 7-0 in the Pac-10. The Cardinal is undefeated and ranked fifth in the country. 

"I can't wait," Simon said. "They won (at Washington) and they're undefeated. It's the matchup you want with the No. 5 and No. 6 teams in the country and the top two teams in the conference." 

ARIZONA 93, OREGON STATE 80

Bickerstaff 6-7 4-5 17, S.Benjamin 1-4 0-0 2, Woods 2-4 0-0 4, Tanner 6-11 0-0 15, C.Benjamin 8-14 6-8 24, Vaden 3-8 0-0 7, Walton 0-0 0-0 0, Petrovic 2-5 0-0 5, Greene 2-2 0-2 4, Heide 0-1 2-2 2. Totals 30-56 12-17 80. 

ARIZONA (17-3) 

Davison 1-1 0-0 2, Dickerson 7-17 4-6 19, Bramlett 6-8 2-7 14, Bibby 6-17 0-3 13, Simon 7-12 6-7 23, Pastner 1-1 0-0 2, Harris 2-3 1-2 5, Tebbs 0-1 0-0 0, Wessel 0-0 1-2 1, Terry 4-6 0-0 10, Edgerson 0-1 4-4 4, Jenkins 0-0 0-0 0, Stewart 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 34-67 18-31 93. 

Halftime Arizona 41, Oregon State 30. 3-Point goals Oregon State 8-23 (Tanner 3-4, C Benjamin 2-7, Bickerstaff 1-1, Vaden 1-6, Petrovic 1-3, S.Benjamin 0-1, Woods 0-1), Arizona 7-19 (Dickerson 1-5, Bibby 1-6, Simon 3-4, Tebbs 0-1, Terry 2-3). Fouled out None. Rebounds Oregon State 29 (Woods 5), Arizona 36 (Bramlett 8). Assists Oregon State 18 (Tanner 6), Arizona 20 (Bibby 9). Total fouls Oregon State 22, Arizona 15. 

Attendance 14,525.