Tucson, Ariz. • Deandre Ayton had 23 points and 19 rebounds, including a crucial tip-in with 11 seconds to go, and No. 17 Arizona held on to hand No. 3 Arizona State its first loss of the season, 84-78 on Saturday night.
Allonzo Trier, who missed his first six shots but finished with 23 points, made a pair of free throws to put the Wildcats (11-3) ahead 82-78 with 10.3 seconds to go in the teams' Pac-12 opener and one of the most anticipated matchups in the rivalry's history.
Arizona withstood a 31-point performance by the Tra Holder of the Sun Devils (12-1), including 15 of 16 free throws. But the other two usually sharpshooting Arizona State guards, Shannon Evans and Cody Justice, were a combined 5-for-23 shooting, 2 for 14 on 3-pointers.
The Wildcats beat the Sun Devils in Tucson for the eighth straight time.
Arizona State's loss left no unbeaten teams remaining in NCAA Division I after No. 1 Villanova and No. 10 TCU lost earlier in the day.
The Sun Devils had trailed by as many as nine points and come back to win five times this season. But they couldn't quite pull it off in the noisy hostility of McKale Center.
Up 39-37 after a tight first half, Arizona was up 62-50 after Dusan Ristic's dunk with 10:53 remaining.
The Wildcats went cold and Holder scored the final nine in an 11-2 Arizona State run. His baseline floater after an Arizona turnover cut the Wildcats lead to 64-63 with 7:59 to play.
Holder had a chance to put Arizona State ahead but missed a breakaway layup. Evans missed the tip.
The Sun Devils went back up by 10 but Justice's 3-pointer cut it to 78-76 with 1:19 to play. Trier missed a drive but Ayton tipped it in to make it 80-76. Holder's two free throws made it 80-78 before Trier's two from the line clinched the win.
California 77, Stanford 74 • Justice Sueing scored eight points in the final three minutes and California rallied from 17 points down in the second half to stun Stanford in the Pac-12 opener for both teams.
The Golden Bears (7-7, 1-0) looked listless and out of sync for most of the game and trailed 65-48 before outscoring the Cardinal 27-8 over the last 7½ minutes to win at Maples Pavilion for the first time since 2014.
Sueing fueled the comeback with a pair of three-point plays, both coming as part of an 18-4 game-ending run by California. Darius McNeill and Grant Anticevich added 3-pointers during the run and Don Coleman made a pair of free throws with 17 seconds left.
Sueing finished with 18 points, Marcus Lee had 19 points and seven rebounds, Coleman scored 15 points and McNeill added 13 for California.
Dorian Pickens scored 13 points in his return after missing seven weeks with a foot injury but missed two shots down the stretch for Stanford (6-8, 0-1). Michael Humphrey added 15 points and 13 rebounds, Reid Travis had 15 points and eight rebounds, and Kezie Okpala scored 11.
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