Ira Lee scored four points and pulled down a critical rebound in the final minute Wednesday while Arizona hung on to win its 18th straight game over Stanford, 75-70 at Maples Pavilion.
Stanford held leads of up to six points into the second half and cut the Wildcats’ lead to just 69-68 with less than two minutes left.
But Lee drove inside for a layup that gave UA a 71-68 lead and then collected a defensive rebound when Davis missed a runner. Lee was then fouled and hit both ensuing free throws. He finished with a career-high 12 points.
Earlier, Stanford’s Josh Sharma collected an offensive rebound with over one minute left, the Cardinal moved the ball all the way around the perimeter and back to Sharma for a dunk that cut UA’s lead to 69-68.
Brandon Randolph led UA with 15 points on 4-of-15 shooting while KZ Okpala had 29 to lead the Cardinal.
MORE: Ira Lee clutch down the stretch to help Arizona Wildcats continue Maples mastery
The win moved Arizona to 12-4 overall and 3-0 in the Pac-12. The Wildcats have an extra day to prepare in the Bay area before facing California next on Saturday.
Stanford dropped to 7-8 and 0-3.
The Wildcats overcame Stanford's 18 free-throw attempts in the first half while their defense still allowed the Cardinal to shoot 58.3 percent in the second half. UA center Chase Jeter fouled out with 2:21 left after sitting the final 13 minutes of the first half.
The Cardinal also lost a key player down the stretch when freshman guard Cormac Ryan needed assistance to reach the locker room after suffering an apparent lower-body injury with 7:46 left.
When Jeter fouled out, the Wildcats led just 65-64 though a layup from Brandon Williams made it 67-64.
Arizona led Stanford 61-54 with seven minutes left on a layup from Williams but the Cardinal scored three straight baskets, two from Okpala and another from Bryce Willis to pull within one with 3:28 left to go.
The Wildcats had led Stanford 40-38 at halftime but the Cardinal built a 50-46 lead early in the second half while UA missed 5 of 7 shots to start the half. The Wildcats tied it back up at 52 when Ryan Luther converted a three-point play with 10:57 left and turned it into a 12-2 run that gave them a 59-54 lead entering the final eight minutes, with Stanford having gone scoreless for over three minutes at one point during the run.
The Cardinal made only 11 of its first 18 free throws, but still scored nine more points than UA did at the line in the first half while getting four Wildcats into foul trouble early. Luther and Lee each had three fouls, while Dylan Smith and Jeter each had two at the break. The Wildcats finished with a 16-15 advantage at the line, though the Cardinal attempted eight more free throws.
Lee led UA in first-half scoring with eight points while Luther and Justin Coleman each had seven.
Davis led Stanford with 15 points, six rebounds and two assists. The Cardinal outrebounded UA 18-15 but had 11 turnovers.
Stanford tied the game at 23 on a free throw from Wills with 7:56 left in the half and the Cardinal went ahead 25-23 on two free throws from Davis.
After Luther and Randolph hit 3s to give UA a 29-25 lead, the Cardinal tied it back up at 29 on two layups, one coming after Luther was called for a charge, his third foul of the game at that point. The game remained within two possessions the rest of the way.
At the start of the game, Arizona took a 10-2 lead while Stanford missed its first four shots, but the Cardinal quickly pulled back into it.
The Cardinal drew fouls from Lee on two successive scores, with Oscar da Silva converting the and-one free throw on his dunk while Okpala missed his free throw after a fast break layup on an assist from Davis.
While Jeter scored inside to give UA a 12-7 lead, Davis and Okpala each scored to cut UA’s lead to 12-11 before Stanford went ahead later in the half.
