Wow! Another one of those Arizona-Stanford Classics on the hardwood.

This time it was Lamont Jones hitting a 16-footer to give the Wildcats a 71-69 last-second win over the host Cardinals in Maples Pavilion.

Unbelievable? Probably not in that Arizona and Stanford have played jaw-dropping games there through the 30-plus years of years.

Saturday, it was Jones who put his name alongside Khalid Reeves, Damon Stoudamire, Michael Wright (all Arizona), Nick Robison and Todd Lichti (both Stanford) as far as heroes of the game.

Include Arizona’s Derrick Williams in the mix after he scored 24 points and had an out-of-nowhere block to save his team from losing in the final seconds that set up Jones’ heroics.

“MoMo and Derrick, together, were the difference,’’ Arizona coach Sean Miller said, “not only down the stretch but throughout the whole game.’’

Jones had 16 points in a game that featured the strong play of Arizona’s future stars in Jones, Williams, Solomon Hill over veterans Nic Wise and Jamelle Horne.

Arizona is now 14-14 overall and 8-8 in the Pac-10. It returns home for its final two regular-season games as it faces UCLA on Thursday and USC on Saturday.

For the fourth time in Pac-10 play this season, Arizona was able to rebound to win on a Saturday after losing a game on a Thursday. Miller called his team’s performance a “resilient’’ one as it came back from a 52-43 deficit midway through the second half.

“We needed a couple of players to step up and we experienced that,’’ Miller said.

Miller is hoping the win provides some confidence into his team as it heads home. At times this season, Arizona has played more confidently on the road than at home.

“I’m hoping the win will allow us to have three very good days of practice,’’ Miller said, “in preparing for our final weekend of the season. Momentum going into the conference tournament, particularly this year, is going to be meaningful.’’

Miller said by no means is his team perfect and that “we are fighting through our own issues. We have to make sure that everyone is (focusing) in and giving great effort and playing together. It is gratifying we can win a game like that.’’

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 27th, 2010 at 7:50 pm and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.