Tempe, Ariz. — Billy Knight and Jason Kapono had seen enough close games to handle Arizona State's late comeback.
Knight had 21 points and Kapono scored five of his 20 over the final 39 seconds as No. 9 UCLA beat the Sun Devils 82-79 Thursday night, the Bruins' 11th win in 12 games.
St. John's coach Mike Jarvis, left, assistant coach Kevin Clark and players Kyle Cuffe, right, and Eric King encourage the Red Storm against Boston College. St. John's knocked off the No. 22 Eagles, 64-57, Thursday in Boston.
"Our trademark any time we're playing a team like this is we kind of build a lead, and then we tend to go off on our own," Kapono said. "We started shooting quickly and stuff, and then we found ourselves in trouble.
"But we stayed poised and fought back and came out with a win, even if it was a nasty win."
Matt Barnes had 19 points and nine rebounds for the Bruins (13-3, 5-1 Pac-10), while Dan Gadzuric scored 10 of his 14 points in the second half.
"We always expect a tough game against a Rob Evans-coached team," UCLA coach Steve Lavin said. "The shoes are always squeaking when we come in here. We were fortunate."
Chad Prewitt had 22 points and eight rebounds for the Sun Devils (10-6, 3-4), who rallied from a double-digit deficit twice in the second half only to fall short for the 25th time in their last 26 games against the Bruins.
Kapono made four free throws with 39 seconds to go, including two on a technical foul after a fan threw coins onto the court, to give the Bruins an 80-72 lead that proved decisive.
"That technical shouldn't happen," Evans said. "When the game is close, you let the players decide things. It was demoralizing when you work as hard as these kids worked."
Arizona State's Curtis Millage, who had 15 points, and Prewitt made 3-pointers down the stretch, but the Bruins countered with free throws.
UCLA had the ball under its own basket with 6.2 seconds to go, but Millage stole the inbounds pass and missed a shot at the buzzer.
"They played their hearts out coming back in the game and then lost by three, so you've got to give them credit," Barnes said, "but we've got to work on closing out a lead and playing for 40 minutes."
No. 15 Arizona 97, No. 18 USC 80
Tucson, Ariz. Luke Walton had his first career triple-double and was the point man in a stifling zone defense as the Wildcats (12-4, 5-2) handed the Trojans their first Pac-10 loss. Walton had a career-high 27 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. He also had four steals and a career-best four blocked shots. He was 7-for-11 from the field and a career-high 13-of-15 at the foul line. Sam Clancy had 31 points for Southern California (13-3, 5-1).
No. 19 Stanford 83, Washington St. 50
Stanford, Calif. Casey Jacobsen and Curtis Borchardt each scored 15 points for the Cardinal (10-4, 3-2 Pac-10), who improved to 6-0 at home this season. J Locklier scored 12 points for the Cougars (4-11, 0-7), who have lost nine straight overall and 11 in a row to Stanford.
St. John's 64, No. 22 Boston College 57
Boston Marcus Hatten had 18 points and eight assists for the Red Storm (12-4, 3-2 Big East), who fell behind 16-2 before rallying for their third win in as many games against ranked teams. Ryan Sidney scored 20 points and Troy Bell and Uka Agbai each had 12 for Boston College (13-4, 2-3), which has lost its last three home games after winning the previous 25.
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