Allonzo Trier scored 15 of his 21 points in the second half as No. 17 Arizona pulled away from Oregon State in the final minutes, slogging their way to a 62-53 win at home over a team that shouldn’t have given them a scare in the McKale Center.
Deandre Ayton scored 14 points and 10 boards while Rawle Alkins added 11 points for the Wildcats.
Trier made a number of big threes down the stretch to help Arizona pull away, but the highlights of this game came on back-to-back plays in the second half. First, Trier posterized an Oregon State defender:
Allonzo Trier gives @APlayersProgram it's first lead of the game.
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) January 12, 2018
Watch #Pac12Hoops: https://t.co/ZhZuI5ezsa pic.twitter.com/ooLAfCAyNh
Then Alkins did something you only see in a dunk contest:
Rawle Alkins just did something that you usually only see in dunk contests pic.twitter.com/3zWAxbw75e
— Ryan Kelapire (@RKelapire) January 12, 2018
It doesn’t exactly look great that a talented Arizona team that Sean Miller has publicly chided for not being able to defend or play hard struggled like this against a team they should manhandle, but a win is a win in league play.