Brandon Williams had 20 points while Arizona hit a season-high 13 3-pointers in an 82-71 win over Oregon State in front of a rowdy McKale Center crowd on Saturday.
However, the Wildcats lost center Chase Jeter to a hard fall in the middle of the first half and he did not return to the game. Jeter fell directly on his left upper back and stayed down on the floor for over a minute before leaving the court.
Jeter returned in the second half to sit on the bench but did not play after UA said he was questionable to return. There was no immediate word on if he suffered a specific injury, though Jeter appeared to sit down cautiously after standing during the second half.
MORE: Chase Jeter injury forces Arizona Wildcats to go small for bounce-back win
UA shot only 40.3 percent from the field overall but made 13 of 27 3-pointers and outrebounded the Beavers 41-29 while also forcing them into 15 turnovers. Arizona scored 28 second-chance points on 21 offensive rebounds, many of which were kicked back for 3-pointers.
The Beavers became the sixth team to shoot 50 percent or better against the Wildcats, making 51 percent but only connecting on 4 of 17 3-pointers.
The win moved Arizona to 14-5 overall and 5-1 in the Pac-12 heading into the Los Angeles trip, which starts Thursday at USC. Oregon State dropped to 11-6 and 3-2 after a 3-0 start.
Arizona held an 11-point lead at halftime but nearly lost it twice in the second half.
The Beavers quickly sliced their halftime deficit, prompting UA coach Sean Miller to call a timeout just 58 seconds into the second half after OSU scored twice. Miller slammed a clipboard to the floor as he sat in the center of the team huddle during the timeout.
However, UA reclaimed a double-digit lead after Justin Coleman and Dylan Smith hit 3-pointers, and Arizona held a 51-41 lead with 15:06 to go after Brandon Randolph made a layup.
OSU again cut the UA lead to just one possession, 61-58, after Ethan Thompson hit a 3-pointer with 8:19 left. But back-to-back 3s from Coleman and Williams gave the Wildcats a 71-60 lead with 5:01 to go and the Wildcats hung on from there.
In the first half, Williams scored 13 points and Arizona jumped on Oregon State early before taking a 38-27 halftime lead.
When Jeter went down midway through the first half, Arizona was already playing with a smaller lineup featuring Smith as a starter in place of Ryan Luther, and at one point, Miller inserted former walk-on forward Jake DesJardins for only his fourth appearance all season.
On UA's first possession with DesJardins, he drove inside and picked up a foul, then hit the second of two free throws.
The Wildcats had their lead cut to just a point midway through the first half but took a 34-35 lead with 2:34 to go in the first half after Luther made a 3-pointer on Arizonaβs third shot of a possession. Arizona had missed a shot and had another blocked by OSU center Kylor Kelley.
Playing with a high intensity at the beginning of the game, and with a smaller lineup featuring Smith, the Wildcats helped cause five Oregon State turnovers in the first four minutes of the game and took a 10-3 lead.
Jeter fell hard on the left side of his upper back when Smith scored for the seven-point UA lead, and the Wildcats were given a chance to shoot two flagrant free throws, which Williams hit 1 of 2.
Williams then shot another two on the same possession when fouled by Antoine Vernon under the basket and hit them both to give UA a 13-3 lead and the Wildcats took their biggest lead of the half, 15-6, when Alex Barcello hit a 3-pointer in the left corner.
However, OSU didnβt turn the ball over during the next four minutes and eventually pulled all the way to within 20-19 when Gligorije Rakocevic scored a rebound basket with 9:34 left.
Oregon State finished the first half shooting 47.6 percent from the field but took 11 fewer shots at the basket because they had 10 turnovers to UA's three and were outrebounded by the Wildcats 21-13.
Arizona scored 12 points on OSU's 10 turnovers, while the Wildcats had seven of their own turnovers and shot just 34.4 percent for the first half.
