• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Arizona State grabs first Pac-10 win

Feb 19, 2007 - 4:56 AM TEMPE, Arizona (Ticker) -- After many near misses, Arizona State finally grabbed its first Pac-10 Conference win of the season.

Jeff Pendergraph scored 14 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead the Sun Devils past No. 23 Southern California, 68-58.

Freshman Derek Glasser scored 11 of his 14 points in the second half and Jerren Shipp added 10 for Arizona State (7-19, 1-14 Pac-10), which had lost its previous five games by a total of 20 points.

"We've had a group of winners here for a while and tonight we finally showed it on the scoreboard," coach Herb Sendek said. "In a lot of different ways we have been winning every night and this time we actually got one on the scoreboard. I think it speaks for the perseverance and the heart of this team."

Pendergraph scored four points during a 13-2 run over a 5 1/2-minute span in the second half. Glasser capped the spurt with a 3-pointer to give the Sun Devils their first lead of the second half, 33-32, with 13:19 remaining.

Another 3-pointer by Glasser extended the lead to 47-39 with 6:24 to play. Gabriel Pruitt brought the Trojans back within 54-49 with a shot from the arc at the 3:04 mark.

However, Shipp and Glasser combined to hit seven free throws in the final 58 seconds to seal the victory.

"They just played better then we did," USC coach Tim Floyd said. "They had 21 points with about 16 minutes to go then they scored 47 with a combination of their efficiency and their poise.

"They did not turn it over; we fouled too much in the start of the second half. They shot 25 free throws as a result of our fouling. They took good quality shots; they got some in transition off our turnovers. They probably got more quality than they have in a long time."

USC (19-8, 9-5) did not figure out the Arizona State defense, shooting just 36 percent (21-of-58) from the field.

The Sun Devils are giving up just 62.8 points per game in Sendek's first season, the school's best mark since the 1949-1950 season.

Pruitt scored 22 points and added five assists and Lodrick Stewart added 18 for the Trojans.