KEVIN KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat Senior guard Jason Gardner (right) put up 22 points and dished out a game-high 14 assists to lead the Red team to victory in last night's Pepsi Red-Blue Game at McKale Center. The event kicked off UA's season.

Each time the Arizona men's basketball team has split up to face off in an intrasquad scrimmage, the outcome has been close.

The same held true for one half during the annual Pepsi Red-Blue Game until the Red team, led by preseason All-American Jason Gardner, pulled away for a 105-87 victory.

"As a whole, we played well," Gardner said. "The big guys hit the boards and the players on the wings hit their shots. It was a good night for our freshmen. They don't sit back and wait for things to happen ÷ they make things happen."

With the Wildcats entering the season at No. 1 in the nation, the support from their fans has been apparent as 8,860 fans attended last night's game in comparison to the 3,809 that attended last season.

The Blue team, coached by assistant Rodney Tention, led 47-43 at the half, but associate head coach Jim Rosborough's Red team came out on fire and shot a blistering 67.6 percent as the Blue team had no defensive answers.

With the Red team up three, Gardner stole the ball and headed down court for an easy lay-up, but instead he threw the ball off the backboard and freshman Andre Iguodala finished the fast break with an electrifying slam dunk to make the score 65-60.

However, the Blue team responded and regained the lead at 67-66. It would be its last of the game.

The Red team's two seniors ÷ Gardner and forward Rick Anderson ÷ stepped up and showed why they are two of UA's captains.

Anderson hit two -traight shots, Gardner added two three-pointers, and before the Blue team had a chance to regroup, it was down 76-67.

The Blue team was able to stay close behind the performance of sophomore center Isaiah Fox. Fox led the Blue team on the boards as he finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

With the Blue team dominating on the glass, the Red team was able to regain control of the game by running up and down the floor, which led to a lot of transition baskets and open three-point shots.

"The Red team ran the Blue team off the court in the second half," head coach Lute Olson said. "I'm not at all happy with the Blue team. They didn't run the lanes well, and the point guards had no one to pass to."

In the eyes of Olson, Fox was the only player on the Blue team that was not outplayed in the second half.

"In the second half, you could say that four of the five Red team players outplayed the Blue players," Olson said. "The only exception to that would be Isaiah Fox."

Senior forward Luke Walton and Iguodala shared the high-scoring honors, finishing with 23 points each.

Walton added 10 rebounds and six assists for a double-double, but Olson was concerned with the senior's conditioning.

Walton has been battling a dislocated pinky that he suffered during UA's scrimmage last Friday and he hasn't been able to practice since.

"This is the first day that Luke has played since last Friday, and you could tell," Olson said. "He was off on Saturday and Sunday and he didn't practice due to injury on Monday and Tuesday. Walton has to get into shape. Andre just burned him in the second half."

Sophomore Channing Frye said the Red-Blue Game gave the Wildcats an opportunity to play in front of a big crowd and see their areas of weakness.

"This was a dress rehearsal for us," Frye said. "It was a good chance for the fans to see the progression that we have made since Midnight Madness. Playing these scrimmages gives us a chance to get rid of our bad habits and work on them in practice."

Sophomore guard Salim Stoudamire was the only Wildcat held out of action, as he is still battling a high left ankle sprain and his status is day-to-day.

Arizona fans will have another opportunity to see the Wildcats face off against one another this Saturday from noon to 1:30 p.m. in McKale Center before the team takes the court on Tuesday against the EA Sports All-Stars at 8 p.m.