New Mexico Beats Arizona at Buzzer

Damion Walker’s layup at the buzzer capped a big second-half comeback that gave No. 16-ranked New Mexico a 79-78 victory over No. 7 Arizona on Saturday night at Albuquerque.

New Mexico, 16-2 overall, trailed 43-28 at halftime, but Walker and Lamont Long led a rally that gave the Lobos their 40th consecutive victory at “The Pit” against nonconference opponents.

Long scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half and Walker had 17 of his 19 points in the final 20 minutes.

Arizona guard Jason Terry, who had 23 points, gave Arizona (12-2) a 78-77 lead with a 12-foot jump shot in the lane with 4.6 seconds left.

New Mexico had no timeouts, so John Robinson took the inbound pass, dribbled to the top of the key and found Walker open underneath the basket. Walker, who had missed a layup with 1:37 left and the Lobos leading, 75-72, banked in the winner.

Long and Walker scored 22 of New Mexico’s first 24 points in the second half.

Walker scored 10 points in an 18-6 run, pounding his way for layups or trips to the foul line. Long was equally effective with his speed and drives to the basket, consistently scoring against Terry on a variety of bank shots. A three-point basket by Long with 10:08 left put New Mexico ahead, 60-57--its first lead since the game’s opening minute.

Arizona, led by 6-foot-8, 235-pound freshman Michael Wright, had a 29-11 rebounding advantage in dominating the first half. Wright had 17 rebounds for the game.

Washington 86, Oregon 76--At Seattle, Deon Luton scored seven of his 23 points in a 14-3 run in the final 1:36 of overtime for the Huskies, 9-6 overall and 2-3 in the Pacific 10.

Washington squandered a five-point lead in the last two minutes of regulation when playing without center Todd MacCulloch, who fouled out with 27 points and 12 rebounds. MacCulloch moved into eighth place on Washington’s career scoring list, passing Seattle SuperSonic forward Detlef Schrempf.

Oregon (10-5, 2-4) lost in overtime for the second consecutive game, falling to Washington State, 87-83, in three extra periods Thursday night. Terik Brown led the Ducks with 15 points.

Washington State 84, Oregon State 79--The Cougars (8-8, 2-3) made 25 of 32 free throws in defeating the Beavers (8-7, 2-4) at Pullman, Wash. Washington State had made only 23 of 43 free throws in the triple-overtime victory over Oregon.

The Cougars’ Chris Crosby led all scorers with 22 points, making four of six three-point shots. He was one for 20 from behind the arc in his previous Pac-10 games.

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Pacific 10 Race

Conf.

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Team W L Stanford 5 0 Arizona 4 1 UCLA 4 2 California 2 Arizona State 2 3 Washington 2 3 Washington State 2 3 USC 2 4 Oregon 2 4 Oregon State 2 4

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Overall

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Team W L Stanford 15 2 Arizona 12 2 UCLA 12 4 California 11 4 Arizona State 10 7 Washington 9 6 Washington State 8 8 USC 10 5 Oregon 10 5 Oregon State 8 7

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Saturday’s Results

Stanford 72, UCLA 59

California 89, USC 75

Washington 86, Oregon 76 (OT)

Washington State 84, Oregon State 79

New Mexico 79, Arizona 78

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Wednesday’s Schedule

UCLA at USC

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Thursday’s Schedule

Arizona at Oregon

Arizona State at Oregon State

Washington at California

Washington State at Stanford

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Saturday’s Schedule

UCLA at Louisville

Arizona at Oregon State

Arizona State at Oregon

Washington State at California

Washington at Stanford