• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Pendergraph leads Arizona State over Charlotte

Nov 28, 2008 - 7:05 AM CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Jeff Pendergraph scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead 14th-ranked Arizona State over Charlotte, 84-56, on Thursday in the opening round of the 76 Classic.

Pendergraph entered having scored 23 points in his previous three games and his breakout enabled the Sun Devils to take on Baylor, which defeated Providence, in Friday's semifinal.

Ty Abbott had 14 points and four assists, while James Harden contributed 15 points and six rebounds for the Sun Devils (4-0), who opened a season with four consecutive wins in a season for the first time in three years.

"I thought it was a really good team win," Arizona State coach Herb Sendek said. "I thought our defense paved the way. We really were shooting ourselves in the foot with turnovers. You certainly have to credit Charlotte with their pressure defense, but I thought our defense was the key."

Rashad Coleman had 14 points to pace Charlotte (1-4), which failed to avoid its first four-game losing streak since it dropped its final four of the 2004-05 season.

"It was pretty tough when they stretched our offense and made it hard for us to get into our set plays," Coleman said. "Anytime your shots that usually fall, don't fall it gets frustrating. We just need to come back tomorrow and fight through that."

Since their season-opening 77-59 win against UNC Greensboro, the 49ers entered having dropped three in a row by a combined five points. However, the Sun Devils shot 62.5 percent from the floor en route to outscoring them, 49-33 in the second half.

"It's definitely good to be one of those teams that everybody wants to look out for instead of being one of those teams that people forget about," Pendergraph said. "But we still have a lot of improvement to make."

In the teams' only previous meeting on December 30, 2000, Arizona State defeated Charlotte, 91-78, in the consolation game of the ASU Holiday Classic.