The Barometer Online

Issue date: 3/7/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Peter Strong Calvin Hampton of OSU goes up for two in last night's game against Arizona. Hampton did not score against the Wildcats and the Beaver lost by a final of 81-45.

Jerryd Bayless scored 20 points and added four assists to lead Arizona (18-12, 8-9) to a 81-45 blowout victory over Oregon State (6-23, 0-17) at Gill Coliseum on

Thursday night.

The Beavers have lost 19 straight games and are now one game away from becoming the first team in Pac-10 history to finish the season winless in conference play. With Arizona's win, the Wildcats now hold a 45-5 advantage over the Beavers in the last 50 games of the series. Coach Kevin Mouton knew the Wildcats would bring their A-game to Corvallis, and they did. Unfortunately for the 4,386 in attendance, the Beavers did not.

Oregon State jumped out to an early lead in the first half after Arizona turned the ball over eight times in the first eight minutes. A jump shot by Josh Tarver with 11:45 to play in the first half gave OSU a 12-9 lead.

That is where the good news ended for the Beavers on the night. Arizona put their foot on the gas pedal and they never let up.

Bayless scored 11 points in the final 12 minutes of the first half to lead the Wildcats on a 31-6 run to close the half. Before the dust settled, the Beavers found themselves down 40-18 at the half. "We created some turnovers, then we made our substitutions," Mouton said. "Then the tide just changed on us. They started making us turn the ball over."

Oregon State had 12 turnovers at the half and shot only 30 percent from the field. Arizona had 12 turnovers as well, but they shot 50 percent and made 13 free throws to Oregon State's zero.

The second half did not get any better for the Beavers. Arizona started the second half by outscoring the Beavers 22-8, effectively ending any chance Oregon State had for a comeback. After Arizona took their largest lead of the game at 69-30, Oregon State had been outscored 60-18 in a 20 minute span of the game.

"When we fell into a situation where they got [Jordan] Hill going and we couldn't stop him, I couldn't get [our guys] into a zone quick enough," Mouton said. "By the end, the lead was too much."

Continued...

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