Arizona holds nothing back in defeating Beavers

If you don’t have anything good to say about something, then generally it’s best to say nothing at all.

Thus no Oregon State players were made available to the media and coach Kevin Mouton’s post-game comments were brief on Thursday after the Beavers were crushed 81-45 by Arizona in a Pacific-10 Conference mismatch at Gill Coliseum.

The Beavers (6-23, 0-17) lost their 19th consecutive game and moved 40 minutes closer to mercifully pulling the plug on a season that’s been on life-support since mid-January. They can complete an imperfect 0-18 league season, and tie the modern-day conference record for consecutive losses, against Arizona State at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in their regular-season finale.

OSU is winless since Dec. 19, 2007, and didn’t even come close to pulling out of that nosedive on this night. Arizona (18-12, 8-9) snoozed through a turnover-filled first eight minutes, then responded to some OSU substitutions with a 14-0 run for a 23-14 advantage with 6:38 remaining before the break.

“I took out the three (starting) guards, put in our second group of guards and I’m not sure if they were quite ready to go,” Mouton said. “That (first) group had a good rhythm going, we created some turnovers, and then we made the substitutions.

“I’ll have to see the film, but the tide just changed on us. They made us turn the ball over, and that was it in a nutshell.”

The Beavers were cooked, and played as if the outcome was inevitable. The Wildcats never took their foot off the gas until coach Kevin O’Neill cleared his bench with about five minutes remaining, ending a second-half dunkfest that saw the Wildcats score on numerous unchallenged slams to please the handful of red-clad Arizona fans in the announced crowd of 4,386.

“We didn’t play down to the level of competition,” guard Jawann McClellan said. “It just shows you we’re a pretty good team when everyone’s healthy.”

Jerryd Bayless had 20 points, Chase Budinger 17, Jordan Hill 16 and nine rebounds, and Nic Wise 15 points and six assists in his first game back following a Feb. 5 knee operation that sidelined him for seven games.

Rickey Claitt and Josh Tarver had 10 apiece for the Beavers, who clearly regressed from last Sunday’s loss to Oregon. They shot 32 percent (17 of 53) overall, 14 percent (1 of 7) from deep, were outrebounded 40-29, were outscored 39-24 in the paint and 25-16 off turnovers, of which they had 20.

Mouton said he couldn’t comment on his post-game remarks to a dispirited team. Still, he said somehow they’d be ready for ASU (18-11, 8-9), whose flickering NCAA-tournament hopes were dimmed somewhat by a 67-61 loss at Oregon on Thursday night.

“You can’t write what I said to them,” Mouton said, without the hint of a smile. “They’ll be alright.”

Arizona has a strong Ratings Percentage Index (24 before Thursday) and can probably clinch its 24th consecutive NCAA berth by defeating Oregon on Saturday, especially if it wins once at the March 12-15 Pac-10 tournament at Los Angeles.

“We’re halfway there,” said Wise, who showed little or no ill effects from his injury. “We need to play hard, come out Saturday with the same ending.

“Oregon, they’re a better team than Oregon State, and they’re going to capitalize on turnovers,” unlike the Beavers.

O’Neill said it was a “relief” not to be the ones to end OSU’s streak of futility.

“I (thought) this was going to be a tough game. They played Oregon very well here,” he said. “They are desperate for a win. Nobody wants to be 0-17 in league season.

“I did it one time and it’s not fun. It’s hard. I like how our guys played defensively, especially tonight. I think we proved we are a pretty good team.”