Pac-10 roundup: Diogu's 39 points help Sun Devils down Stanford

TEMPE, Ariz. — The Stanford Cardinal decided to let Arizona State's Ike Diogu try and beat them single-handedly last night.

Diogu obliged them.

Diogu scored 20 of his career-high 39 points in the second half as the Sun Devils rallied for a 74-67 victory.

Diogu, drawing single-coverage until the final five minutes of the game, was 16 for 26 from the floor to set career highs in field goals made and attempted. Other conference opponents had slowed Diogu by double-teaming him with two of their tallest players.

The rest of the Sun Devils shot 8 for 28 from the field as Diogu scored more points than in his past three games combined.

"Contrary to whatever everyone thinks, Arizona State is not a one-man team," said Stanford coach Trent Johnson. "We wanted to make him work for all he got."

Diogu, who had 11 rebounds for his 12th double-double, spoke to teammates at halftime and told them he wouldn't allow them to lose another close game at home to the Cardinal.

"I normally don't say anything but after two years of losing the same way I couldn't handle that for a third year," said Diogu, who has nine career 30-point games. "We were off to a slow start, myself included. I just decided to turn it up."

Arizona State (16-6, 5-5 Pac-10) won for the third time in four games and swept Stanford for the first time since the 1993-94 season. The Cardinal (12-8, 6-4) had won 13 straight against Arizona State before the Sun Devils' 81-69 road win on Jan. 6.

"You've got to win big games if you're going to make it to the tournament," Diogu said. "This was a big win for us."

Nick Robinson scored 17 and Matt Haryasz and Chris Hernandez had 12 each to lead Stanford, which saw its season-best six-game winning streak snapped.

Diogu scored nine consecutive points, including a three-pointer that pulled Arizona State to 23-22, then added a long jump shot after a Kevin Kruger three-pointer for a 27-23 lead with 3:31 left in the first half.

Channing Frye had 20 points and seven rebounds for Arizona.

Salim Stoudamire contributed 17 points, Hassan Adams had 15 and Mustafa Shakur had 10 for the Wildcats (18-4, 8-2), who kept pace with Washington atop the Pac-10 standings. The 13th-ranked Huskies beat USC 99-69.

Arizona won for the 15th time in 17 games, but the previous outing was one of its worst in decades — a lead-blowing debacle at home against Washington State, which had lost 38 in a row to the Wildcats.

The Wildcats came in with an edge, and it showed as they improved to 9-0 when scoring at least 80 points.

Richard Midgley led the Golden Bears (11-9, 4-6) with 18 points and six rebounds. Rod Benson had 12 points and Martin Smith 11 for Cal, which had a three-game winning streak snapped.

Reserves played the final 5 minutes after Jesus Verdejo, who had just entered the game, made a 3-pointer with 5:22 to go, giving the Wildcats an 86-58 lead, their biggest of the game.

The Bears got as close as they were going to get 23 seconds into the second half, when Benson's layup cut their deficit to 46-35.

But that triggered an 18-4 run in which the Wildcats scored the last 11 points to take a 64-39 lead with 13:48 to go on a three-pointer by Stoudamire.

Martin Smith made two three-pointers during a 12-1 surge that got Cal to 65-51 with 10:07 left while Arizona coach Lute Olson mixed younger players and starters.

But Arizona came out of it with Frye, Shakur and Adams back on the floor. Frye and Shakur scored off fast breaks, and Adams, the Pac-10 steals leader, had one of his four and dunked to open a 73-53 lead with 8:31 to go.

Stoudamire had 12 points in the first half as the Wildcats took a 46-33 lead.