ANN ARBOR, Mich. — In a stellar matchup of senior point guards, Payton Pritchard prevailed in the end.
Pritchard scored 19 of his 23 points after halftime, and No. 10 Oregon outlasted No. 5 Michigan 71-70 in overtime Saturday. With the game on the line, Pritchard repeatedly drove past Michigan's Zavier Simpson, and although Simpson had eight points and 11 assists, the Wolverines lost their second straight game.
“I thought the intensity was really high. When they started hitting shots in the second half, their intensity went way up,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “I thought the guys fought it off just enough to win.”
Oregon (8-2) built a 16-point lead in the first half, then had to withstand an extended Michigan charge. Anthony Mathis nearly won it for the Ducks with a long 3-pointer at the end of regulation, but a replay showed he released the shot just after the clock ran out.
Simpson's calling card has been his defense during his Michigan career, but the Wolverines (8-3) had no answer for Pritchard late. He scored 13 of Oregon's points in a row at the end of regulation and the start of overtime.
“With a point guard, you just kind of pick and choose what’s the time to go and when to not,” Pritchard said. “I felt throughout the game, I could’ve hit those gaps, but you’ve got to wait for it to open up. They started not collapsing as much, and that’s when I was able to get to the rim.”
Pritchard scored the Ducks' final points of the game on a driving layup that put Oregon up 71-68. Then David DeJulius made a baseline jumper for the Wolverines and forced a turnover on the inbound pass.
Michigan's final possession lasted a while. DeJulius missed a driving shot, and the ball went out of bounds after a scramble near the basket. The Wolverines kept possession after a lengthy review, but Simpson missed a driving hook shot in the final seconds, and a tip-in attempt by Brandon Johns wouldn't drop.
“We got the ball in the hands of the right person we wanted to have it," Michigan coach Juwan Howard said. "I love the look that we had.”
Michigan shot 7 of 29 in the first half and flubbed three dunk attempts toward the end. Oregon led 31-23 at the break.
ARIZONA STATE 79, GEORGIA 59
TEMPE — Remy Martin scored 23 points, Romello White had 18 points and 17 rebounds and Arizona State pulled away in the second half to beat Georgia on Saturday night.
Arizona State (8-2) won its fifth straight game and controlled the entire second half, leading by as many as 24 points. Alonzo Verge Jr. added 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
White made three quick buckets early in the second half, using his powerful 6-foot-8, 235-pound body to finish through contact and help the Sun Devils build a 48-37 lead. He finished 7 of 8 from the field and grabbed six offensive rebounds.
Georgia's star freshman Anthony Edwards finished with 13 points, but only one came in the second half. He missed all five of his 3-point attempts.
The Bulldogs (6-3) lost for the third time in five games. They had a brutal night shooting, especially from long range, where they connected on just 2 of 24 shots (eight percent) from 3-point range. Tye Fagan led Georgia with 15 points.
The 6-foot-5 Edwards was productive early, scoring 10 of Georgia's first 15 points and finishing the first half with 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting. The rest of the Bulldogs struggled, shooting 6 of 20 before the break.
Arizona State led 39-31 at halftime after White's tip-in banked off the glass and through the hoop as time expired. Martin led the Sun Devils with 15 points in the first half.
NOTRE DAME 75, UCLA 61
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Prentiss Hubb scored 20 points and dealt six assists, and fellow sophomore guard Dane Goodwin added 16 points as Notre Dame carved up UCLA from 3-point range in a victory Saturday afternoon.
The Fighting Irish (8-3) drained 15 of 39 shots outside the arc for 38.5%, including 13 of their first 32 while building a 53-35 lead by the 13-minute mark of the second half.
T.J. Gibbs scored 15 points for Notre Dame, while John Mooney netted 14 to go with 15 rebounds.
The Bruins (7-4) placed just one player in double digits, that being junior Chris Smith with eight of his 10 in the second half. Redshirt freshman Shareef O’Neal, the son of Shaquille O’Neal, added a team-high 11 rebounds and eight points in just 17 minutes off the bench.
A Gibbs 3-pointer gave Notre Dame the lead for good at 8-5 four minutes into the game.
UCLA trailed by double digits for all of the final 19 minutes.
It was the 50th all-time meeting between the teams whose historic intersectional rivalry, now staged just occasionally, was often the toast of college basketball in the 1970s.
SAINT MARY'S 89, CALIFORNIA 77
BERKELEY, Calif. — Jordan Ford scored 32 points, including 13 straight for Saint Mary's late in the second half, and the Gaels beat California on Saturday night.
Malik Fitts had a season-high 28 points on 9-of-12 shooting and matched his career high with five 3-pointers for Saint Mary's (10-2). Dan Fotu added seven points and nine rebounds.
Six days after falling to No. 14 Dayton to snap an eight-game winning streak, Saint Mary’s pulled away in the first half behind Fitts’ hot hand then held on late behind Ford after California closed a 19-point deficit to as little as eight.
Andre Kelly had a career-high 26 points for the Golden Bear (6-5). Matt Bradley added 14 points and Grant Anticevich scored 11.
California’s loss ended its eight-game home winning streak dating to last season.
It’s also the third consecutive year that the Golden Bears have lost to the Gaels. The two San Francisco Bay Area schools are within 14 miles of each other.
Fitts made his first five 3-pointers and had 21 points in the first 20 minutes as the Gaels pulled away and led by 17 before halftime. The 21 points by Fitts matched his total in the loss to Dayton.
Saint Mary’s made five consecutive 3s during one stretch in the first half, three by Fitts and two from Alex Ducas.
UTAH 60, WEBER STATE 49
SALT LAKE CITY — Timmy Allen scored 19 points to lead the Utah past Weber State in the Beehive Classic on Saturday.
Riley Battin added nine points and 10 rebounds and Mikael Jantunen and Branden Carlson each had nine points for the Utes (8-2).
Jerrick Harding scored 17 points, Cody John had 15 and Kham Davis contributed 11 for the Wildcats, who fell to 3-6.
Utah led 31-25 at the half after overcoming an early six-point deficit. After the break, Battin scored four quick points, Carlson dunked and the Utes never relinquished a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
In the second half, both teams had a hard time finding the bottom of the net as they combined to shoot 2 for 18 during one stretch.
But the Utes got buckets around the basket and if they missed, they tallied 11 points in the second half on second chances to go along with a 47-34 rebounding advantage.
The Utes played without their starting point guard Rylan Jones, who was second on the team in minutes played, but had bruised ribs.
On the other side, the Wildcats finally have a mostly healthy team after a rash of injuries at the beginning of the season but haven’t been able to find an offensive rhythm.
Preseason Big Sky MVP Harding averaged 28 points in Weber State’s two wins last week but didn’t start scoring until the Wildcats were down big in the second half.
The Wildcats had 14 missed layups and dunks against Utah’s extraordinary length. The Utes’ aggressive switching defense on Weber State’s perimeter screens kept the Wildcats off balance.
OREGON STATE 80, ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 46
CORVALLIS, Ore. — Tres Tinkle had 26 points and the Oregon State Beavers stretched their winning streak to six straight games with a victory over outmatched Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday.
Ethan Thompson added 21 points for the Beavers, who led by as many as 36 points.
Oregon State (8-1) had not played in 13 days. The Beavers' last game was an 81-76 victory over Portland State on Dec. 1.
Marquell Carter had 13 points and Daquan Morris added 11 for Arkansas Pine-Bluff, which fell to 1-8 on the season. The team's lone win was on Nov. 25 against Champion Christian, an independent member of the Association of Christian College Athletics.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff has a brutal December with six road games and two Pac-12 opponents. In addition to Oregon State, the Golden Lions will play Washington State on Dec. 29.
It was never really a contest. Oregon State jumped out to a 23-2 lead. Morris scored on a layup for the Golden Lions to open the game, then the Beavers went on a 23-0 run capped by Ethan Thompson's back-to-back 3-pointers.
The run ended when Morris made a 3-pointer for UAPB. The Golden Lions missed 10-straight shots.
Oregon State went on to lead by 45-18 at the break. Tinkle led all scorers with 17 points. Morris led Arkansas-Pine-Bluff at the break with eight points.
Tinkle went into the game with an average of 21.4 points a game to lead the Pac-12. Kylor Kelley, who leads the nation with an average of 4.5 blocks per game, finished with seven against UAPB, tying his season-high.
Despite the blowout, Coach Wayne Tinkle kept his starters in, most likely because of the team's extended time off. Oregon State is on the road next week for two games in Texas.
STANFORD 78, SAN JOSE STATE 58
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Oscar da Silva scored 25 points, one shy of his career high, and had eight rebounds in helping Stanford beat San Jose State on Saturday.
Tyrell Terry added 12 points, eight boards and five assists for the Cardinal (9-1), who improved to 40-13 all-time against San Jose State and has won 10 of 19 meetings in San Jose. Isaac White also had 12 points.
Seneca Knight scored 12 points for the Spartans (3-8), who have lost six straight games. Brae Ivey added 11 points.
The combination of Stanford’s substantial rebounding advantage and San Jose State’s poor shooting proved too much for the Spartans.
Da Silva, 11 of 17 from the field, scored Stanford’s first nine points of the second half in the first true road game for the Cardinal, who maintained a double-digit lead throughout.
Following an early San Jose State lead, the Cardinal began pulling away, leading by as many as 14 late in the first half before settling for a 32-19 halftime advantage.
