SAUL LOEB/Arizona Daily Wildcat UA's Hassan Adams (left) and Channing Frye try to trap Oregon State's Lamar Hurd during the Wildcats' 72-60 win last night over the Beavers.

'Cats unable to close out Beavers until late in John's return to Tucson

Jay John wanted to leave his hometown with a win against the nation's No.1 team and the team that he grew up not only watching but coaching.

Even though that didn't happen as John's Oregon State Beavers lost to UA 72-60 last night in McKale Center, his team played the Wildcats close the entire game.

"We came here trying to win and we didn't accomplish that," said the first-year OSU head coach. "I told our guys that if they put their hearts and soul into the game, that they can't feel bad about losing."

Even after Arizona (24-2 overall, 16-1 Pacific-10 Conference) came out sluggishly, it was still able to defeat the Beavers, making this the 20th consecutive year that Arizona has defeated them at home.

"This game was hard work for us," UA head coach Lute Olson said. "But it is a win. A lot of credit goes to John and his staff. They played with a lot of poise."

SAUL LOEB/Arizona Daily Wildcat Head coaches Lute Olson and Jay John embrace prior to UA's win last night. John was an assistant coach at Arizona under Olson before moving on to the top job with the Beavers prior to this season.

UA sophomore center Channing Frye continued his stellar play by scoring a game-high 24 points to go along with grabbing 12 rebounds.

"I feel I need to step up like this every game," Frye said. " I need to go out and play my game and just continue to be aggressive on the offensive end."

The Wildcats were up 40-28 at the half, but OSU (13-13, 6-11) came out firing in the second half and cut the Arizona lead 58-54 with a little over 10 minutes remaining.

Frye continued to dominate the middle, but the Wildcats never got their perimeter game going as sophomore guard Salim Stoudamire was benched by Olson for the entire second half.

Stoudamire went 0-for-4 in the first half with two turnovers, and Olson said Stoudamire was playing outside of the offense and focusing too much on taking his man off the dribble.

"I felt Salim didn't respond to what I was saying," Olson said. "Being that was the case, it was a good night for him to take a rest."

With Stoudamire out and UA's lead cut to four points, Arizona's three freshmen, Andre Iguodala, Chris Rodgers, and Hassan Adams, stepped up their play.

Adams finished with six points, four rebounds, and two blocks, but it was his play down the stretch that gave UA the spark to pull away from the Beavers.

With Arizona looking for a decisive moment to get away from OSU, Adams stole a pass and took it the length of the floor and dunked over Jimmie Haywood.

The dunk electrified the crowd and gave the Wildcats a 10-point lead with seven minutes remaining.

The dunk broke the backs of the Beaver players and they were never able to get closer than seven for the remainder of the game.

""I'm just going out there and playing hard," Adams said. "Coach Olson is giving me the opportunity to get out there and play hard. I'm just going to keep bringing energy to the floor."

Senior Luke Walton continued to show that he is closer to 100 percent as he finished with 12 points, seven assists, and six rebounds. Walton's seven assists give the senior his fourth straight season with at least 100 assists.

The Wildcats return to action on Saturday at 2 p.m. against Oregon for the last game of the regular season.

Game Notes

Olson's fiancŽ Christine Toretti was in attendance · Saturday is Senior day for the Wildcats as all four seniors ÷ Walton, Jason Gardner, Rick Anderson and Fil Torres ÷ will be acknowledged in a post-game ceremony immediately following the game · Former UA golfer Lorena Ochoa and the women's golf team was honored at halftime ·