At the end of the first half Thursday night it looked like Arizona and Washington State could be headed for another overtime game, but point guard James Akinjo quickly put that thought to rest in the second half when he scored 15 points over the final 20 minutes to help the Wildcats secure a 69-53 win over the Cougars.

UA opened its final week at home with a double-digit win over Washington State by taking advantage of the hot shooting of its starting point guard.

Akinjo had a quiet first half but after hitting a shot with 16:42 left he took over for the next several minutes collecting a quick 10 points helping Arizona build up a double-digit lead.

He only cooled off slightly the rest of the night as he helped the Wildcats keep the Cougars at bay allowing UA to cruise to the victory behind 19 points for the junior.

"He's the given," UA head coach Sean Miller said of his starting point guard. "He had 19 points, maybe a few more turnovers, but again Washington State is a difficult team to score on. And, I think some of those turnovers you have to give credit and tip your hat to the defense."

The other big, maybe more important, story of the game for the Wildcats was their ability to keep Washington State's top two scorers in check. Sophomore guard Noah Williams scored 32 and 40 points in his last two games, respectively, and earned the Pac-12 Player of the Week award on Monday.

Arizona was able to hold him to just eight points in Thursday's game as he made just two of his 15 shots from the field.

The Cougars' leading scorer Isaac Bonton made his return to the floor after missing the last few games with injuries to both ankles. He came off the bench in Thursday night's game but wasn't effective during his 19 minutes on the floor as he finished with just three points for the Cougars.

UA has had some issues with its defense throughout the season, but Thursday night the Wildcats were able to keep Washington State under 55 points in the win.

"I still think we can improve a lot more," senior guard Terrell Brown Jr. said. " ... We're still trying to figure out ways we can get better. We knew coming into the game that they're a good team, they shoot the three really well and offensive rebound really well. We made Noah a real focal point.

"He had 32 points against Cal and 40, I believe, against Stanford. So, we knew he was a hot player and we just did a great team job shutting him down as best we could."

Thursday's win marked the first time the Wildcats have been able to earn consecutive victories since beating Arizona State back-to-back last month. UA has not been able to win back-to-back home games since December, and Miller is looking for his team to change that come Saturday.

"We want to finish our season strong," Miller said. "... We want to play our best down the stretch here. We got two games left. It's been some time since we had a home sweep. You know, I can't believe I just said that but that's something we have to repair. That's why Saturday's game is so big. It gives us that chance to do it."

Arizona is set to host Washington at 12 p.m. MST on Saturday to close out its home schedule with just one game remaining in the regular season after that when the Wildcats travel to Eugene to face Oregon as they wrap up the regular season on the road.

• Miller said after Thursday's game that freshman guard Kerr Kriisa could return to the floor on Saturday after missing the matchup against Washington State because of a groin injury he suffered earlier this week in practice. Arizona didn't want to push Kriisa to play and do further harm to his groin, but there is a chance he rejoins the team this weekend.

"With that type of injury if he would've pushed through here tonight we basically would've steadily deteriorated and wouldn't have had an opportunity to increase," Miller said. "He's been able to take a couple days off. We'll be smart tomorrow with him as well, and we're optimistic and hopeful that he'll rejoin us on Saturday. We need him.

"It's too much to ask to only play three guards or four guards. You need Kerr available. Kerr has become a really big part of what we're doing, so we gotta get him back in there."

• Power forward Ira Lee played just six minutes in Arizona's win over the Cougars on Thursday, but in what could be his final game with the Wildcats the senior will be in the starting lineup on Saturday, Miller said after the game. Lee is the lone four-year scholarship player on the UA roster this season and the UA head coach plans to reward him for his contributions to the program by allowing him to start the game against the Huskies.

Lee will have the option to play another college basketball season next year but both he and Terrell Brown Jr. have not announced their decisions about the future.

"In this case I think Ira deserves to start and he'll start for us," Miller said. "I'm not sure who the lineup will be, but he'll be in it."

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