Free throws.

A lot happened in the 45 exhilarating minutes of Pac-12 basketball on Saturday night in Tucson, but No. 24 Arizona’s inability to hit the free ones down the stretch ultimately cost the Wildcats the game.

With the game tied and Arizona (19-8, 9-5 Pac-12) at the line with a chance to take the lead twice — once at the end of regulation and once at the end of overtime — the Wildcats went 0-4 from the stripe and allowed No. 14 Oregon (21-7, 10-5 Pac-12) to escape with a critical win to stay afloat in the conference race.

Pac-12 Player of the Year frontrunner Payton Pritchard poured in a career-high 38, including six threes, to propel the Ducks to overtime, and senior forward Shakur Juiston scored all nine Oregon points in the extra period to seal the win.

The winning bucket came with 1.4 seconds remaining. Will Richardson regrouped after a Pritchard miss, drove the lane and found Juiston on a wrap-around pass under the hoop for the eventual game-winner. The game wasn’t over then, though, as a full-court pass led to Arizona’s Christian Koloko getting fouled with a chance to tie or take the lead. Instead, the 42-percent free throw shooter missed both.
For the Ducks, Saturday night’s win was the team’s first real breakthrough on the road in conference play. After road losses to Colorado, Washington State, Stanford, Oregon State and Arizona State, they made enough plays down the stretch to capture just their third road win of Pac-12 play.

With the three remaining regular season games at Matthew Knight Arena, Oregon has a chance to secure a 25-win season before entering postseason play for the first time since Dillon Brooks, Tyler Dorsey and Jordan Bell led the program to its first Final Four since 1939.

Up next: a Civil War rematch in Eugene against the Oregon State Beavers on Thursday.