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Arizona holds off Stanford

Feb 7, 2013 - 6:30 AM Tuscon, AZ (Sports Network) - Mark Lyons scored a season-high 25 points on 9- of-13 shooting to lead No. 7 Arizona past an upset-minded Stanford, 73-66, at McKale Center.

Stanford scored the game's first 10 points, but were unable to stop Lyons and Solomon Hill down the stretch. Hill scored 20 of his 23 points in the second half as the Wildcats (20-2, 8-2 Pac-12) won their four straight since a home loss to UCLA.

"Mark not only scored tonight, he made his teammates better," Arizona coach Sean Miller said. "His six assists were much closer to eight or nine. He ran the team and led the team, and really let the game come to him."

Dwight Powell and Aaron Bright netted 24 and 16 points, respectively, for the Cardinal (14-9, 5-5), who were looking to build off a three-game winning streak that featured a win over nationally-ranked Oregon.

They appeared on their way as a Josh Huestis jumper gave the Cardinal a 54-49 lead with under six minutes to play, but Arizona scored the next nine points. Hill tied things with a 3-pointer and two free throws, and Lyons dished to Angelo Chol for a go-ahead layup before putting in a deuce himself for a 58-54 advantage with 3 1/2 minutes remaining.

Bright drained a three from the corner coming out of a timeout, only to have Lyons respond with a deep make of his own.

After a Stanford turnover, Hill made a jumper for a six-point cushion and put the exclamation point on the comeback win with a thunderous dunk with just over a minute to play.

"Even though tonight was a loss, we came out and showed we can hang with anyone in the country," Huestis said. "We let things down in the last couple of minutes and that's where we lost it."

Bright highlighted the game-opening 10-0 run with a pair of 3-pointers, but the Cardinal made just one field goal over the final 11 minutes of the half.

Arizona was able to cut into its deficit and scored the last six points of the first half to pull within 27-26. A Lyons layup gave the Wildcats their first lead, 38-37, with 5 1/2 minutes gone in the second half.

Game Notes

Arizona was celebrating the 40th birthday of McKale Center, which hosted its first game on Feb. 1, 1973 ... Arizona owns a 55-29 series advantage and has won seven straight meetings ... Stanford fell to 2-5 in true road games.