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Arizona runs past Cal

Feb 27, 2014 - 6:52 AM Tucson, AZ (SportsNetwork.com) - Nick Johnson had 22 points and the third- ranked Arizona Wildcats beat the California Golden Bears by an 87-59 margin to split their regular season series.

The Golden Bears handed the Wildcats their first setback of the season on Feb. 1 at Haas Pavilion. That was also the game in which Arizona lost Brandon Ashley to a season-ending foot injury.

Kaleb Tarczewski added 16 points for the Wildcats (26-2, 13-2 Pac-12), who extended their home winning streak to 20 games. Aaron Gordon and T.J. McConnell each tallied 13 points.

"This may have been our best game of the year. Cal is a really good team," Arizona coach Sean Miller said. "You saw that in the run they had against us in the second half. You get the sense that tonight wasn't their night. It was ours."

Justin Cobbs had 12 points to pace the Golden Bears (18-10, 9-6), who failed to build off Sunday's win over USC. Richard Solomon and Tyrone Wallace each added nine points.

Cal jumped out to an 8-2 lead, but the Wildcats scored nine of the next 11 points.

Trailing 14-13 with 12:21 left in the first half, Arizona went on a 9-0 run to take the lead for good. The surge featured three dunks and Johnson's free throw with 10:34 remaining made it 22-14.

Ahead by six, 29-23, with 6:40 left, the Wildcats scored 10 straight points. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson tallied six points during the burst, including two free throws with 4:15 remaining to make it 39-23.

Arizona led 44-29 at the break and quickly built the lead to 20 points early in the second half.

Cal never got closer than nine the rest of the way.

Game Notes

Arizona leads the all-time series, 56-30 ... Cal guard Jordan Mathews rolled his left ankle with over one minute left in the game ... The Wildcats shot 50.8 percent from the field and went 17-of-22 from the foul line ... Hollis- Jefferson ended with 12 points and 10 rebounds.