ESPN Men's Basketball

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) -- Dan Grunfeld was preparing for a major operation on his right knee a year ago. On the eve of the surgery's anniversary, Grunfeld turned in one of the best nights of his career.

Grunfeld scored a career-high 31 points and Matt Haryasz added another 22 in helping Stanford beat Arizona State 82-69 on Thursday night.

"The fact we won is more important but it is special for me as far as coming back from an injury," Grunfeld said. "I'm wearing a lighter brace now and it's nice to be able to do things I wasn't able to do before."

Grunfeld, who was enjoying a spectacular season, tore the ACL in his knee last Feb. 12 in a victory over California. He underwent surgery last Feb. 23.

He switched to a lighter brace for the Cardinal's loss at Gonzaga on Saturday.

"He's as healthy as he's been but the main thing is his confidence," Stanford coach Trent Johnson said. "He's worked hard to get back to this point and he's had a lot of bounce last week. It's nice to have Danny back."

Chris Hernandez added 12 points and extended his consecutive free throw streak to 34 as the Cardinal (13-9, 9-4 Pac-10) ended a two-game losing streak with its eighth straight at home.

Freshman Jeff Pendergraph scored 18 points to lead Arizona State (9-14, 3-11), which lost its second straight and six of eight overall. Kevin Kruger added 15 points and Bryson Krueger had 14.

"Grunfeld is a smart, experienced player," Arizona State coach Rob Evans said. "If you don't put someone on him who's experienced then he'll beat you."

Haryasz, who has dealt with vision problems stemming from a poke to the eye two weeks ago at Oregon State, became the 35th player in school history to reach 1,000 points, following Hernandez, who reached the milestone earlier in the season. Haryasz also became the 13th player to record 1,000 points and 600 rebounds.

"This injury has put things in perspective for me," Haryasz said. "Sometimes you take things for granted like always being able to see perfectly. To go down with the eye injury was tough. It's nice to see again."

Antwi Atuahene, who scored 10 points, stole the ball and went all the way in for a layin to draw Arizona State within 49-43 with 13:37 to play. He was called for a foul 17 seconds later, and a technical foul was assessed on Sun Devil assistant coach Tony Benford moments later.

Stanford made all four free throws on the play, and Hernandez added two more fouls shots on the ensuing possession to push its lead back to double-digits.

"It was a key point in the ballgame," Evans said. "That swung the whole momentum the other way. The technical was pointless."

Arizona State found itself in early foul trouble and had three players each pick up three fouls before halftime.

The Sun Devils sent Stanford to the line for 22 free throws and didn't help themselves by shooting just under 35 percent. Stanford also outrebounded Arizona State 16-8 in the half.

The Cardinal shot nearly 56 percent from the field, led by Grunfeld. The senior small forward made five of his six shots and all eight of his free throws in the first half.

Lawrence Hill hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Cardinal a 41-25 halftime advantage.