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Washington State upends Arizona State

Jan 30, 2009 - 5:42 AM TEMPE, Arizona (Ticker) -- Freshman Klay Thompson, Aron Baynes and Taylor Rochestie combined for 61 points as Washington State surprised No. 14 Arizona State, 65-55, on Thursday.

Thompson and Baynes did their damage as the Cougars (12-8, 4-4 Pac-10) took a 46-43 advantage midway through the second half. From there, Rochestie came to life, hitting a 3-point shot to double the advantage for his first points of the game.

The Sun Devils cut the deficit to 51-49 with a mini-run of 6-2, but Rochestie hit another shot from behind the arc to open the gap to five. Rochestie scored all 11 of his points in the final seven minutes and the Cougars outscored the Sun Devils, 38-25, over the final 20 minutes.

Arizona State led 39-32 with 15:54 left as James Harden hit a pair of free throws. Washington State then went on a 9-0 run as Thompson connected on three shots from beyond the arc.

"Klay was sensation despite our efforts to know where he was and get to him," Arizona State coach Herb Sendek told the Arizona Republic about former NBA player Mychal Thompson's son. "Every time he broke free, he made us pay dearly.

"He has a pure beautiful shot and no wasted motion. He has length so he can get his shot over a number of smaller players, and he also can take it one or two bounces and get to his mid-range game as well. He's a very good player."

Derek Glasser hit a 3-pointer to give the lead back to Arizona State at 43-41, but the Cougars countered with an 8-0 run to take the lead for good.

Thompson finished with 28 points on 10-of-17 from the field, including 8-of-10 from beyond the arc. Baynes added 22, including 8-of-8 from the foul line.

Thompson and Baynes were 17-of-31 from the field while the rest of the Cougars were only 4-of-18. Washington State hit 13-of-14 free throws as opposed to 10-of-17 for the Sun Devils.

James Harden led the Sun Devils (16-4, 5-3) with 26 points. No other player on Arizona State reached double figures.

Arizona State hit only 19-of-51 shots, with Harden recording eight of the baskets but also missing 12 attempts.

"We've got to make shots," Sendek told the paper. "It's probably no more complicated than that right now for our team. They're not an easy team to score against, but when you have open looks you've got to knock them down. We haven't shot the ball at all since the Oregon weekend."