No. 16 Washington blasts Arizona State in Tempe

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) -- Not much has changed between Washington and Arizona State since they met in their Pac-10 opener in late December.

Mike Jensen made four of five 3-pointers and scored 14 points and the Huskies (No. 16 ESPN/USA Today; No. 14 AP) turned it on in the second half on their way to a 91-66 victory over the Sun Devils on Thursday night.

The victory, coupled with UCLA's overtime win at California, kept the Huskies one game behind the Bruins in the Pac-10 standings with one regular-season game to play.

The game was a near-duplicate of the teams' first meeting Dec. 29 in Seattle, when the Huskies led 40-38 at the break, then blew out the Sun Devils 91-67.

"Up there they were up by two at the half, this time we were up by two," Arizona State's Kevin Kruger said. "Other than that, it was pretty much the same."

In the game in Seattle, Brandon Roy scored a career-high 35 points for Washington. On Thursday night, the Huskies buried Arizona State with balance.

"Guys made shots tonight," Roy said. "It didn't have to be a 'Brandon Roy makes shots down the stretch' night, and that's fine with me."

Roy was one of four Washington players with 13 points, ending his string of nine consecutive games of at least 20 points. The streak was the longest in Huskies' record books dating to 1960.

"They did a good job of pressing up on him, trying to put a stronger guy on him," Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said. "But what ended up happening is it just opened up everyone else."

Roy fell one free throw shy of the Washington record of 33 straight when he missed his first attempt of the game from the line.

Jamaal Williams, Ryan Appleby and Jon Brockman added 13 apiece for the Huskies (23-5, 12-5 Pac-10).

Kruger scored 23 for Arizona State (10-16, 4-13), 19 in the first half when the Sun Devils took a 40-38 lead at the break. Jeff Pendergraph added 15 points and 11 rebounds, the freshman's third consecutive double-double.

The Huskies had Roy defend Kruger in the second half.

"I'm glad we've got him," Romar said of Roy, Pac-10 player of the week for the past three weeks. "I've never been around anyone on a college level that can give you so much of what you need. It's different on every night. He didn't score 20 tonight, but he played a good game. He rebounded, he defended."

Washington scored the first 11 points of the second half en route to an 18-4 run that put the Huskies up 56-44 on Williams' hook shot with 13:22 to play. Six Washington players scored in the surge.

Arizona State cut it to 56-48 on Antwi Atuahene's two free throws with 12:13 to go before the Huskies turned it on in a 24-5 outburst to go up 80-53.

Kruger made seven of his first eight shots and was 8-for-11 in the first half and 2-for-6 in the second. His 18-footer at the buzzer put the Sun Devils up 40-38 at the break.

Kruger had a pair of steals, an assist and six points in a 9-1 spurt that gave Arizona State a 28-23 lead after Serge Angounou made one of two free throws with 7:21 left in the half.

A 6-0 surge put Washington back on top 38-35 when Jamaal Williams made one of two free throws a minute before halftime. Sylvester Seay's 3-pointer tied it at 38 with 25 seconds remaining in the half.

Washington, which plays at Arizona on Saturday, outscored ASU 53-24 in the second half.

It could well have been the next-to-last home game for the Sun Devils under coach Rob Evans. Wells Fargo Arena was at least half-empty and the Washington fans were as loud as the sparse ASU faithful. Arizona State hosts Washington State on Saturday night.

Evans was asked about the state of the program with one regular-season game to go.

"It's still the same way as the season," he said. "We will play the next game and only worry about the next game, and get ready for the [Pac-10] tournament."