March 11, 2005
By JOHN NADEL
AP Sports Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Nate Robinson scored six of his 29 points in overtime, and No. 14 Washington survived Arizona State's comeback to beat the Sun Devils 95-90 Thursday night in the first round of the Pac-10 tournament.
The second-seeded Huskies (25-5) were slated to play the winner of Thursday night's game between Washington State and Stanford in the second semifinal on Friday night. No. 8 Arizona and Oregon State will meet in the opener.
Kevin Kruger's 3-pointer with 4:14 remaining gave ASU an 86-85 lead - its second of the game. But Brandon Roy made two free throws, and Robinson added four straight points to put the Huskies on top 91-86 with 2:09 left.
Pac-10 player of the year Ike Diogu hit two free throws before Robinson made a bank shot with 1:22 to play, putting Washington ahead 93-88.
Diogu made two more foul shots with 15.9 seconds left. Tre Simmons made two free throws with 13.5 seconds remaining to complete the scoring.
Simmons added 17 points, Roy scored 12 and freshman Joel Smith added 11 for the Huskies.
Kruger equaled his career high with 22 points and Steve Moore also scored 22 for ASU (18-13), which lost its fourth straight game. Diogu, playing the entire 45 minutes, had 21 points, 13 rebounds and five blocked shots. Bryson Krueger added 15 points for the Sun Devils.
Moore made a layup with less than a second left in regulation to tie it at 83 and force overtime. Moore scored with 14.8 seconds to play to make it 81-all before Hakeem Rollins dunked with 7.1 seconds remaining, giving the Huskies a two-point lead.
Washington shot 30-of-67 including 6-of-12 from 3-point range while ASU was 28-of-64 and 10-of-24 from outside the arc. The Huskies outrebounded the Sun Devils 46-32.
Washington made 14 of its first 17 shots including 6-of-6 from 3-point range in taking an 18-point first-half lead. But with Diogu, Moore and Kruger leading the way, the Sun Devils battled back.
The Huskies had what appeared to be a comfortable 14-point lead when Moore scored 12 points during a 23-9 run that tied it with 5:35 remaining.
Bobby Jones made a free throw, and Roy added two baskets to give the Huskies a five-point lead with 4:12 to play. ASU drew within two points before Roy scored four more points to give Washington an 81-75 lead with 2:18 remaining.
Two free throws by Diogu and another pair by Krueger made it 81-79 with 50.4 seconds left. Then came the wild finish to regulation.
The Huskies made their first 17 free throws before Robinson missed with 12:47 remaining. They finished 27-of-32 from the foul line while ASU was 20-of-28.
Coming off a 77-67 loss to Stanford, Washington started strong, shooting 6-of-7 including 3-of-3 from 3-point range in taking a 19-5 lead. Robinson had 10 points, and Simmons had seven at that stage.
The Huskies continued to pour it on, scoring seven straight points to make it 34-16 after 11 minutes.
It was 52-37 at halftime. Washington's 52 points were the most scored against ASU in a first half this season - six more than the previous high.