University of Washington
Arizona State
Washington Falls to Arizona State, 68-51
January 08, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 8, 2010
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - Rihards Kuksiks matched his career high with 27 points and Arizona State dominated No. 24 Washington from the start in a 67-51 victory Friday night.
Ty Abbott added 17 points for the Sun Devils (1-2 Pac-10, 11-5), who led by 11 in the first half and 19 in the second in the Huskies' second Pac-10 loss in a row.
Trent Lockett had 11 points for Arizona State. The Sun Devils had an 18-point advantage at the foul line, 30 of 37 to the Huskies' 12 of 21.
Isaiah Thomas led Washington (10-4, 1-2) with 20 points. Elston Turner was the only other Washington player in double figures with 10 in by far the Huskies' lowest-scoring game of the season.
Arizona State made 8 of 19 3-pointers, 5 of 8 by Kuksiks, while Washington was 3 of 14.
The Huskies were coming off a 90-79 loss to Oregon last Saturday that snapped Washington's 18-game home winning streak. Arizona State was swept at UCLA and USC last weekend, the latest a 47-37 loss to the Trojans.
Neither team shot well as Arizona State took a 28-19 lead at the break, the fewest points in the first half this season for the Huskies. The previous low was 24 in their 63-59 win over Montana on Nov. 29.
The Sun Devils were worse from the field in the first half, making 6 of 22 (27 percent), but they were 5 of 13 from 3-point range to Washington's 1 of 6.
Washington went the first 7:17 without a field goal, missing its first nine shots.
The Sun Devils started the game 5 of 15, but all five were 3-points. Abbott's second 3 of the night put Arizona State up 17-9 with 6:49 to play. The lead reached 22-11 on Abbott's two free throws with 4:58 left.
Quincy Pondexter's layup cut it to 28-21 in the first half, but Kuksiks followed with a 3-pointer and Washington never got within single digits again.
The biggest lead was 51-32 on Abbott's layup with 8:33 to play.
Washington got it to 61-49 on Venoy Overton's layup with 2 1/2 minutes left, then the Sun Devils put it away with free throws.
