The Marcus Moore show ended on a sour note.

Moore, the Pac-10's leading scorer, had another stellar game for WSU but it was not enough as No. 2 Arizona defeated the Cougars 82-69 Thursday night in McKale Center. The Wildcats have now beaten Washington State 35 straight times.

Moore had 35 points for WSU (5-7, 0-3) while playing on a right ankle that has bone chips and could require surgery once the season ends.

"Our intent was to limit their 3-point opportunities, and we obviously did not do a good enough job," said Olson about Moore who hit 8 of 12 from three. "He just killed us. He did a great job."

The Wildcats (10-1, 3-0) welcomed the return of senior Luke Walton who missed UA's last two games with an ankle injury of his own. Walton led Arizona in assists with eight and also scored nine points.

"It was hard just watching and it was fun to get out there and running again," said Walton who threw a spectacular behind the back pass to Rick Anderson for a dunk in the second half. "I was just trying to get the feel of the game."

But other than the pass from Walton, the Wildcats performance was less than stellar.

Turnovers and poor decisions led to just a 34-31 lead when the teams went into the locker room at halftime. Arizona committed 13 turnovers in the first half, to Washington State's 10.

"It felt like we were kind of dead tonight in the first half," said sophomore Channing Frye, who had a season-high 13 rebounds. "I had to step up and show up on the boards. I had to step up and play my game."

A 15-0 run in the second half gave the Wildcats their biggest lead of the game at 54-35 on a Jason Gardner layup with 12:47 left in the game. Gardner led UA scoring 19 points.

"In the second half, we got the ball to Luke (Walton), and things started happening with our big guys under the basket," Olson said. "We did a much better job of getting the ball ahead to the wings in the second half."

Even though the Wildcats played poorly, Gardner said the team is just happy to get another Pac-10 win.

"The biggest thing is it is a Pac-10 game and you have to come out and defend your home court," he said.

UA takes on Washington, who was defeated 89-57 by ASU on Thursday night, Saturday at 5 p.m. in McKale Center.

Game notes

Sophomore Dennis Latimore got the starting nod at power forward over Anderson but Anderson started the second half with the rest of the starters·Salim Stoudamire made 4 of 7 from behind the arc·No. 10 Oregon was defeated by California on the road 88-72, giving the Wildcats an early two-game lead over the Ducks in the conference·Moore, a junior, became the 24th WSU player to reach the 1,000 point mark in his career·The Cougars were without starting forward Shami Gill (leg injury) and Milton Riley (injured back)·Freshman Hassan Adams was called for a technical foul in the first half for having on the rim to long after an alley-oop attempt·UA started the game missing its first six shots.