When one team out-performs the other in rebounds, assists to turnovers and second-chance points, it expects to win. That was the case for the No. 20 Washington basketball team last night against No. 7 Arizona, except for one thing: they lost.

After trailing at halftime, the Wildcats (12-1 overall, 3-0 Pac-10) rode hot shooting and timely defense to a 96-87 win.

“They’re a very good offensive team,” said coach Lorenzo Romar. “When you have 22 assists to 11 turnovers and shoot 53 percent from the field, you would think you have a chance to win. They just shot the lights out.”

After ending the half with a three-point deficit, Arizona came out on fire, hitting 76.2 percent from the field and missing just five shots.

Meanwhile, Washington (10-4 overall, 0-3 Pac-10) could not seem to adjust to the Wildcats’ scoring, and in the end could not keep up with Arizona’s torrid pace. Despite the UW’s high percentage, they could not muster any points in the final 4 minutes and 27 seconds of the game.

“When you play against Arizona there is no margin for error,” Romar said. “When a team comes out and shoots 76 percent, mostly from the perimeter, they just did a good job.”

The Huskies had their chances early in the game as well. After falling behind early in the first half — mostly due to Chase Budinger’s 12 points in the first 10 minutes — the Huskies went on an 18-4 run.

Leading the charge for Washington was Quincy Pondexter, who didn’t start for the first time in his young career. He responded by scoring 10 points in the span of 4 minutes 37 seconds. His 21 first-half points helped build the UW lead to 14.

“It was a wake-up call,” Pondexter said. “In the last few games I was thinking too much. It’s a new year, and I have to stop thinking so much and just play.”

Also with a hand in the run was Phil Nelson who set a career high in points with 16 on 6-of-8 shooting, with four hits from beyond the arc.

But that was before Arizona began to whittle away the lead. In less than three minutes the Wildcats had cut the lead to four and already had four of its five starters in double digits when the half ended.

Despite their bench being virtually non-existent, the Wildcats had big performances from their starting five. Budinger led his team with 23 points, with Marcus Williams, Jawann McClellan and Mustafa Shakur right behind him with 22, 22 and 21 apiece.

“It’s unbelievable,” said center Spencer Hawes. “It seemed like every time we’d pack it in there they’d let it fly, we’d go to box out and when the ball would get close we’d turn around, but there was no reason to. The ball was already in the hoop.”

After scoring at least 20 points in six of his past seven games, Hawes had somewhat of a quiet night with 16 points and just five rebounds. For the past week the freshman has been battling the flu and had to miss the start of the second half to get an IV due to dehydration.

With the loss, the Huskies fall to 0-3 in the conference, but they see no reason to panic just yet.

“We’re [three games] into the Pac-10 season,” Pondexter said. “It’s nothing to worry about now. It’s not 911 yet.”

Reach reporter Justin Chartrey at justinchartrey@thedaily.washington.edu