Huskies fall to Sun Devils, 75-65

LOS ANGELES — The Washington Huskies had the necessary fight to get it done Friday night.

Their game, however, was another matter.

And ultimately, a 21-point first-half deficit proved too much to overcome as the Arizona State Sun Devils held on to beat the Huskies 75-65 in the semifinals of the Pac-10 men's basketball tournament at Staples Center.

The Huskies came all the way back to take the lead on three occasions in the second half — a rally punctuated by a brief skirmish between the teams. But ASU used an 11-0 run late in the game to get some revenge on the Huskies for two heated regular-season losses that turned the Pac-10 regular season title toward Washington.

"A loss is a loss," said forward Quincy Pondexter. "There isn't any moral victory or anything like that. We just didn't execute the way we needed to to win the game."

Washington (25-8) now heads home to await its fate on Selection Sunday, when Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar said he expects his team to be a three or a four seed. Arizona State, meanwhile, advances to the Pac-10 title game tonight against USC.

Romar discounted any notion that the loss would be something UW would just shrug off, given that the Huskies already have a Pac-10 banner and an NCAA tourney spot sewed up and maybe could use a defeat as motivation going forward.

"No," he said. "I think that's fan talk [that there can be a good loss]. When you are out there playing and competing, you are not thinking, 'Get one [a loss] out of the way.' That skirmish wouldn't have broken out if we were thinking about getting one out of the way."

The aforementioned skirmish erupted with 13:43 left to play when ASU's James Harden chest-bumped UW's Venoy Overton on his way to the free-throw line after being hitting a layin and being fouled. As Overton fell to the ground, he grabbed Harden's jersey, pulling Harden down with him, though Harden kept his feet. Arizona State guard Derek Glasser then walked over Overton, pausing for a moment.

Guard Isaiah Thomas was most notable of players on both sides who began chirping before coaches on both sides rushed in to break it up. Harden, Glasser and Overton were all assessed technicals.

"I just thought it was two teams really competing," Romar said. "And neither one giving the edge to the other. But I thought nobody lost control. Just two teams competing really hard."

Washington, down 13 at the time, continued its rally to take the lead three times, the last at 60-58 with 6:16 left. But the Sun Devils then went on an 11-0 run to finally take control for good.

"It was just a little bit too much to come back from," said Huskies forward Jon Brockman.

The Sun Devils' largest lead was 38-17 in the final minute of the first half, which ended 38-21.

Washington shot just 7 of 30 in the first half, with Romar saying the Huskies were too impatient against ASU's zone defense, settling for jumpers instead of driving the lane.

"Against Arizona State you just don't get quick looks, and at times we tried to generate our own quick looks," he said.

Thomas, who had just four points in the first half, scored 13 in the second to lead the rally and finish with a team-high 17.

But Harden, finally breaking out against the Huskies, had 24 and got help from his supporting cast. Glasser had 16 and Ty Abbott 12, his most since December.

"We've been getting after it pretty good and pretty consistently for a long time now, coming out aggressive, and finally we were rattled a little bit," Romar said.

That the Huskies came back, he said, eased the hurt a little, though Brockman wasn't so sure.

"Any loss is tough," said the senior forward, who is one more defeat from the end of his career. "I wanted to win another championship. There is no such thing as a good loss to rest or whatever fans can say. When you are a competitor out there you just try to win very game, and when you fall short, it sucks."

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com

ARIZONA ST. 75
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Harden	38	7-13	7-9	2-9	4	3	24
Abbott	30	5-10	0-0	0-3	1	4	12
Pendrgrph	29	7-13	4-4	1-7	0	2	18
Glasser	36	5-10	4-4	0-2	5	1	16
Kuksiks	38	0-4	0-0	1-3	2	3	0
Boateng	9	1-1	0-1	0-5	0	2	2
Shipp	20	1-1	0-1	2-4	0	1	3
	200	26-52	15-19	7-36	12	16	75

Percentages: FG .500, FT .789. Three-point goals: 8-16, .500 (Harden 3-5, Glasser 2-3, Abbott 2-5, Shipp 1-1, Kuksiks 0-2). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 2 (Harden, Abbott). Turnovers: 12 (Harden 4, Pendergraph 3, Glasser 2, Abbott, Shipp, Kuksiks). Steals: 5 (Pendergraph, Shipp, Kuksiks, Abbott, Glasser).

WASHINGTON
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Brockman	31	6-10	1-1	2-6	2	2	13
Thomas	32	6-15	4-6	0-3	0	2	17
Dentmon	30	3-11	4-8	0-1	4	1	11
Pondexter	30	3-8	2-2	3-8	1	4	8
Gant	14	1-5	0-0	2-4	0	3	2
Bryn-Amng	10	0-2	2-2	1-1	0	1	2
Holiday	17	1-3	0-0	0-1	1	2	2
Turner	13	1-4	0-0	1-2	1	0	3
Overton	22	2-5	0-0	1-4	3	4	4
Suggs	1	1-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	3
	200	24-64	13-19	12-33	12	19	65

Percentages: FG .375, FT .684. Three-point goals: 4-13, .308 (Suggs 1-1, Thomas 1-3, Turner 1-3, Dentmon 1-5, Overton 0-1). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 0. Turnovers: 11 (Brockman 4, Dentmon 2, Thomas 2, Holiday, Gant, Bryan-Amaning). Steals: 6 (Overton 2, Thomas 2, Gant, Holiday).

Arizona St.	38	37	—	75
Washington	21	44	—	65

Attendance: NA. Officials: Mike Scyphers, Ruben Ramos, Bobby McRoy.

One for the Sun
UW lost for the first time in three games vs. ASU this season:
Date	Site	Result
Jan. 31	Tempe	UW, 84-71
Feb. 26	Seattle	UW, 73-70 (OT)
Mar. 13	L.A.	ASU, 75-65