Feb. 21, 2001
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - Gilbert Arenas scored 18 of his game-high 22 points in the second half as No. 8 Arizona rebounded from a slow start to rout Arizona State 88-58 on Wednesday night.
Michael Wright added 15 points and 12 rebounds, and Eugene Edgerson had 12 points for the Wildcats (19-7, 11-3 Pac-10), who won their 12th straight against the Sun Devils (11-14, 3-11). Arizona has won five of its last six, and 11 of 13 overall.
Brad Nahra, a former walk-on, scored 12 points and Chad Prewitt added 11 for Arizona State, which lost for the fourth time in five games. The Sun Devils have lost seven of their last nine at home, including a 1-6 mark in the Pac-10.
Arenas, who scored 23 in Arizona's 86-75 victory over the Sun Devils last month, hit a pair of 3-pointers and added two free throws as Arizona opened the second half with a 15-0 run to extend a nine-point halftime lead to 49-25 with 16:29 remaining.
Shawn Redhage ended the Sun Devils' scoring drought on a layup with 16:12 to go, but the Wildcats' onslaught continued.
Arenas scored all his second-half points in the first nine minutes of the half as the Wildcats outscored Arizona State 27-5 to take a 61-34 lead with 10:35 to play.
Arizona led by as many as 35 in the final minutes.
The Wildcats' torrid second-half start stood in stark contrast to the Wildcats' sluggish first 20 minutes.
Awvee Storey's 18-foot jumper gave the Sun Devils an 11-8 lead with 12:53 left in the first half. But Justin Wessel and Jason Gardner hit consecutive 3-pointers to spark an 8-0 run and put Arizona ahead 16-11. And the Wildcats slowly stretched their lead from there.
Arizona opened its biggest lead of the first half, 28-16, when Wright hit the second of two free throws with 4:21 remaining.
The Wildcats hit just 8-of-20 field-goal attempts, but used a steady supply of free throws to take a 34-25 halftime lead.
Wright, the Wildcats' leading scorer at 16.5 points per game, missed his only field-goal attempt of the first half but was 9-of-11 from the line.
As a team, the Wildcats connected on 16-of-21 first-half free-throw attempts to match the pattern established in the teams' first meeting Jan. 24. Arizona took advantage of 44 Arizona State fouls to take a 32-9 advantage at the line in its victory over the Sun Devils.
The Wildcats finished 36-of-47 from the line, compared to the Sun Devils' 14-for-23.
Among the 54 fouls called were three technicals, including a flagrant foul and ejection on Storey with 5:38 remaining. Prewitt and Arizona's Richard Jefferson also were called for technicals.